I don’t know about the rest of you, but for me there is nothing more exciting than experiencing the anticipation of waiting for an Apple media event to begin to see exactly they have in store for the technology loving public. As time passes by and the event draws in closer, we generally have a pretty decent idea about what is going to be on offer thanks to numerous leaks and educated guesses, but part of the excitement is the fact that we just never know for sure until Tim Cook takes to the stage and introduces us to the topic of the event.
With the new iPhone looking likely to be introduced next month, followed closely by a couple of new iPods and a possible miniature iPad shortly after, a lot of the attention has been lavished on the size and form of the dock connector which Apple will run with for the next-generation of their iOS devices. At this point in time, we think it is pretty nailed on that we will see an all new connection on the devices, along with the release of an adapter that bridges the gap between the current 30-pin accessories and the new hardware, but the question remains about how many pins the new connector will come with.
Over the last couple of months, we have heard differing accounts of Apple’s plans from various reputable news outlets. All seem to agree that the change is inevitable and will be made in accordance with the leaked images we have seen of the outer shell of the device, but can’t seem to decide on whether the new connection will contain 19-pins, 8-pins or somewhere in the middle of those two sizes. In the past we have seen the internal logs of pre-release versions of iOS give an insight into Apple’s plans and it is entirely possible that the same has happened again with the beta builds of iOS 6.
As the embedded image shows, the internal information from the firmware hints at a new hardware feature called 9Pin, and although we don’t know for sure, an educated guess would seem to suggest that this is referring to support for the new dock connection which Apple is planning on including in their soon-to-arrive hardware. The information seems to be a generic reference to all future iOS devices, rather than being tailored to just one device.
Current and potential iOS device users have had a little bit of time to get used to the fact that Apple will be introducing a change to the dock connector in new hardware, but the fact remains that it is unlikely to sit well with some who feel that making some of their current accessories obsolete is unnecessary. Apple will be offering an adapter that will bridge the gap between old and new but it still means that the release of this hardware will spark a very busy time for the accessory industry.
(via 9to5Mac)
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