New iPhone 5 MagSafe dock connector could restrict which accessories you buy
Hankering for another iPhone 5 dock connector rumour? Here's the latest, fresh out of the iRumour Mill.
Rumours of a new iPhone 5 dock connector are persisting – just yesterday we caught wind of plans to shrink the existing 31-pin dock connector to a smaller 19-pin one, and now the latest whispering suggest that the new iPhone 5 charger will be a MagSafe-like affair, offering easy magnetic attachment.
It’s not all good news, though. One TechCrunch commenter claims to have heard from “an engineer who is working in the phone world” that the new iPhone 5 dock connector will contain a verification chip. That means only officially licensed ‘Made for Apple’ accessories will work with the iPhone 5 – so you can wave goodbye to cheap chargers bought on eBay.
If true, Apple will have much tighter control over the accessory market, which could be a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it. Tighter control will result it better quality accessories, but expect prices to be ramped up in the process.
As always, we’ll never know till after the dust has settled on Apple’s iPhone 5 launch – so we’ll be taking these rumours with the obligatory hefty dose of salt.
Check our our iPhone 5 rumour roundup for the latest speculation surrounding Apple’s next gen iPhone.
[TechCrunch, via Gizmodo]
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Dan Grabham
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