If there’s one constant in the world, it’s change. That’s certainly true of Apple. It’s gone from a garage to the company that changed personal computing to a directionless company on life support to reborn with a new purpose to changing mobile computing to being one of the world's largest corporations. And now I’m out of breath. Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a marked change in how 2020s Apple treats accessories compared to the 2010s version of the company: They’re playing nice with others to their own benefit.
Proprietary Apple
In the 2010s, Apple introduced a slew of new proprietary accessory standards, a lot of them under Made for i(Phone). These included the Lightning Cable, MFI controllers, HomeKit, Home Key, and a few others that slipped my mind. The phone version of MagSafe built upon what QI had introduced and introduced magnetic attachments for more efficient operation and accessory attachment. They all had benefits to Apple’s ecosystem. Lightning set the stage for a small multi-use port for charging and data. MFI controllers brought console quality control to Apple devices. HomeKit and its offshoot Home Key brought security and ease of use to the Internet of Things which had traditionally had neither.
While there was a definite benefit to the Apple device experience, the accessories based on these Apple standards tended to be both more expensive and had lower availability.
Everyone Playing in Apple’s Sandbox.
The big change came with a connected standard for IoT devices from the Connectivity Standards Alliance called Matter. At its core, Matter is built upon the technology HomeKit and gives many of the same advantages, but is available across Smart Home Platforms. While Apple users won’t notice much of a difference, if any, there are two main benefits. First, as of Matter 1.1, Matter has already added some product categories that HomeKit never did such a
s autonomous vacuums and smart appliances.
The other part, which may be the key here, Apple gets to introduce the features it wants while handing certification off to the CSA. More manufacturers are interested because there’s a larger customer base than just Apple devices. Apple and the CSA followed up Matter by having Home Key form the basis of the digital smart lock key standard Aliro.
This creates a pattern. Lightning is giving way to USB-C. Controllers have gone from a very specific MFI standard to Apple basically working with everyone to get their controllers to work across Apple platforms. Then there’s the “brand-new” Qi2. When I say brand-new, I mean it’s basically phone MagSafe for everyone. The iPhone 13 and 14 were even updated in iOS 17.2 to be fully Qi2 compatible. Some changes must have been made to the iPhone 13-series and later that weren’t present in the iPhone 12-series to prevent the OG MagSafe phones from being upgraded. But the point is the same, the same chargers, wallets, and other accessories that work on iPhones will work on future Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, OnePlus, etc devices. Furthermore, certification will be the WPC, not Apple.
Final Word
Apple found a way to finally play nice with others while still being Apple. Apple making standards instead of keeping them to themselves will benefit everyone. Smart homes will be better and more uniform. Smartphone accessories and charging will be uniform no matter what device you have. There will be more choices at more affordable prices. Most of all, this benefits Apple. Apple gets to develop something great and then spread the upkeep costs among its frenemies. This is the true definition of win-win.
The true winner will be the consumer. The future of accessories is one where you don’t have to look for which one will be for your Apple device or your Android device. A cable will be a cable, a charging puck will be a charging puck, and a smart home device will just work.
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