Apple says Lightning to HDMI and Lightning to VGA cables will arrive in a matter of months
There's been some confusion as to what Apple's new all-digital Lightning connector will be capable of, but the company has just cleared that up. An Apple spokesperson told The Verge that Lightning …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple replaced the 30-pin dock connector with the all-digital Lightning port on the iPhone 5 announced this week, and the switch left an immediate gap: none of the video-out paths that docks, projectors, and TVs relied on were shipping at launch. An Apple spokesperson told The Verge that Lightning-to-HDMI and Lightning-to-VGA cables will arrive within a few months, the company's first concrete answer on how the new connector handles displays.
The clarification landed the day before iPhone 5 online pre-orders open at 12:01 a.m. PDT on September 14, and the story traveled widely — pickups at TUAW, 9to5Mac, Engadget, MacRumors, iMore, Know Your Mobile, and TechnoBuffalo all circled the same question of what Lightning can and cannot do out of the gate, alongside same-day reporting on the Lightning-to-Micro USB adapter for European markets.
First-order effects
- iPhone 5 buyers placing pre-orders on September 14 will get a phone with no first-party video-out option until the HDMI and VGA cables ship, forcing anyone presenting from the device to wait or rely on the separately discussed 30-pin adapter path.
- Apple now has a confirmed roadmap for Lightning display accessories, which sets the timeline accessory makers must plan their own Lightning-era product lines around.
Second-order effects
- Dock and projector manufacturers whose products assumed analog 30-pin video-out have to redesign around an all-digital port whose display cables are months away, ceding the holiday-season accessory window to whatever Apple ships first.
- The multi-month gap gives Apple sole control of the early Lightning video-out market, since third parties cannot sell competing cables before the official ones establish the format.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, video-out becomes a licensed, Apple-controlled accessory category rather than a standard port feature — the connector itself becomes a gate through which every display peripheral must pass, and the pace of Apple's cable releases dictates the whole ecosystem's calendar.
The trend: Proprietary mobile connectors are turning display output from a built-in capability into a licensed accessory business controlled by the platform owner.