The Lightning port supported this to via a Lightning>USB-A adapter and then plugging in a USB to Ethernet adapter. I tried this as far back as my iPad Air 2 several years ago, this isn’t a new feature at all.
this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
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I think the buzz is more surrounding the speeds. Lightning was limited to USB 2.0 speeds, whereas USB-C can potentially hit 10Gbps speeds.
That makes sense. More power to the people who want to tether their phones to an Ethernet port, I suppose that would be nice if you’re downloading a large game or something just to speed it up a little bit.
Or uploading footage to a NAS
The iPhone 15 is usb2. So surely can't hit gigabit speeds also. The pro models should be absolutely fine though.
I believe the Pro (or whatever they call the highest trim nowadays) supports USB4.
No. Pro is 3.2
There aren't any 10Gbps usb-c adapters. They are all thunderbolt. But you can get 5Gbps on regular USB-c. I've been looking for years, so I'd be thrilled to be proven wrong
android had that since android 6 or 4
So, the iPhone still supports wired internet. Ok.
Is this news? As someone else said, iPhones could already do this. I just checked, and my $400 android phone can also do this. Seeing as USB-C is just a data port, it makes sense that it can handle ethernet data.
Why would you tether a phone to an ethernet cable? Seems antithetical to the concept of a cell phone.
Phone needs a big update? Download a bunch of movies and music?
Like, plug it in for 5 minutes to get gigabit speed and download 35gb of data.
One can use it to reuse an old phone as a server too with a POE adaptor
TIL, thanks! I like it.
Not an average use case, but I used to use iPads on a tradeshow floor demonstrating apps and controlling other smarthome devices on a network. Wi-Fi at tradeshows is abysmal at best, so we would connect the lighting to USB adapter, then connect a USB to ethernet dongle for hardwired network that was stable. Worked great for us.
That does make sense. I've done similar shows and yes, the wireless internet is awful.
i can think of lots of reasons, all of them niche or not for regular use.
but there are use-cases, and ios already has drivers for usb nics, so a better question might be “what good reason is there not to support this?”
Large network transactions (like an initial download when transferring phones) are a lot “kinder” to the hardware if you’re pulling through the port rather than running the wireless radios. There’s enough activity on the SOC already, can keep excess heat down by not needing the WiFi pumping at hundreds of MBs as well.
I could see people docking their phones, and having a keyboard, mouse, external monitor, ethernet, speakers, etc. connected to the dock. I do that with my steam deck to play games on the TV. Apple is pushing gaming hard with the iPhone 15. I could see that being a use case Apple would support for gaming.
It depends. I do it from time to time whenever my internet connection is faster than my mobile data or I want to avoid hitting my data limit needlessly when I have a cord already in the room.
I'm genuinely curious why wifi isn't an option in your scenario? If you're opting to use ethernet, with a USB adaptor no less, you'd surely be in range of wifi no?
It depends on if I want the higher speeds or if I'm in a part of my house that doesn't have perfect coverage (and suspect speeds as well)
Strangely enough, all of my devices lack an ethernet port so I have a few USB to Ethernet adapters around my house.
Maybe it’s useful for IT stuff. To connect to a network that doesn’t have WiFi? Or to hook it up to server hardware that doesn’t have an exposed USB port.
I tried this just for the lulz, and it worked with no issue. Was able to get close to my rated gigabit speeds. Not of much use for normal people, but it's just a freebie from having a USB-C port.
The only reasonable upgrade path after mmWave.
this seems.... entirely unnecessary.
I use it to test my terminations lol
that's smart
I don't think it's an intentional feature they added, it's just an included bonus of USB-C.
Hooray, I guess?
Awesome. Will make network troubleshooting a bit easier than lugging a laptop around.
I wonder if you could combine this with Power over Ethernet to also charge the device?
I would imagine you probably could if you rewired the dongles
Yes you technically can. POE to Usb-c 5v adapters exist but they're mostly intended for powering an SBC and in my experience they struggle with the current even an SBC can pull.
Yes, but theres not much of a market for it right now sadly :(