Apple and innovations are like twin brothers, many technologies which were standards years back have been discarded. In mobile computing (especially in hardware), Apple is a path-maker in pioneering innovations that has changed the way we use technologies.
Some of the changes were not pioneered by Apple but once Apple put their hands to it, it leapfrogs into a revolution forcing hardware manufacturers to retool their design set.
This is a list of 5 most used technologies that Apple has taken out of our hands and replaced with something better.
Diskette (Floppy Disk)
For a technology that was very much in vogue in the beginning of the 21st century, the totally disappearance of the floppy disk less than 15 years later was rather unexpected.
When Apple introduced the iMac in 1998, it came with only a CD-ROM drive. Luckily, the widely used USB version 1.1 was also introduced that year, floppy disk users were forced to connect through the USB adapter.
When the USB 2.0 was released in 2000 with a higher data transfer rate up to 480Mbit/s, many manufacturers were already developing faster read-write USB media with bigger storage capacity.
The good old floppy still held on shakily as a last resort emergency boot media and BIOS updates, however as new BIOS came with support for bootable USB, the Floppy disk was finally nailed down.
Windows 10 no longer support a generic driver for USB floppy drives.
Removable battery
Apple new product campaigns are always aggressive, armed with videos and impressive images, the company demonstrated how a thick slab of aluminum (with air gaps and contoured lines) is molded into a thin unibody devices. The effect was revolutionary.
The need for thinner and better designed unibody devices made manufacturers to turn to non-removable lithium polymer battery.
The resenting voice about device freezing and difficulties in replacement of battery were drown by the superior performance of the non-removable battery and the more aesthetic appealing unibody design of devices.
Building water resistant devices is also driving products to have non-removable battery.
Standard sim
Apple push for miniaturization did not stop with the battery, the standard sim was considered too big, so why not cut away the plastics and keep the chip – the micro sim was born and thereafter, the nano sim.
Now becoming a standard for even Android Phones (The latest Samsung Galaxy 7 uses nano sim), most new devices that still have support for the standard sim size are mostly the dual sim devices which provides slots for both micro and standard size sims.
3.5mm headphone jack
So the rumor is true, Apple has totally removed the age-long 3.5mm headphone port from its products. The new iPhone 10 comes with support for wireless earpiece and with the drive towards a wireless future and better water-proof designs, expect more manufacturers to start ditching the 3.5mm jack. Read about the features of the new iPhone 7
Although Apple was not the first in this one, Lenovo had already done it with Moto Z, it got more interesting when Apple decided to ditch it.
Another innovation to replace the 3.5mm port by Apple is the development of the USB-C port. Apple has been wary about the standard USB port but with this new development, Apple successfully combined the performance of the popular lighting port and the versatility of the USB port and birthed the USB type C port.
Manufacturers are already producing headphones with the USB-C jack which can be used in the all-purpose USB-C jack. If your device does not support the USB-C port (yet), using an Adapter is also an option.
Flash in Browser
Safari never run flash by default because of security concerns and recently, major browsers are ditching the flash player for good in favor of HTML 5.
