Does the lightning cable use USB 3 or USB 2?

Current lightning cables only support USB 2.

It is suggested that the flash memory storage used in current iOS devices isn't fast enough to really take advantage of the transfer speed of USB 3. Lightning does use an adaptive interface and has enough pins to support USB 3, so presumably at some point in the future when the technology matures, Apple could implement USB3 support in its iOS devices and release a USB 3 version of the cable that would have an 8-pin USB 3 A connector on the PC end.

• Answered by Joseph L from Edmonton
• 14/09/2012
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USB 2

• Answered by Nicholas D from San Diego
• 14/09/2012
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USB 2.0.

• Answered by Callum C from Taringa
• 14/09/2012
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USB2

• Answered by Kabeer V from Thames Ditton
• 14/09/2012
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It's still USB 2.0 unfortunately.

• Answered by Anthony A from Miami
• 14/09/2012
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USB 2.0

• Answered by Gianni F from Manassas
• 14/09/2012
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It clearly states in the description this is a USB 2.0 product

• Answered by Shaun T from Kingman
• 14/09/2012
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"This USB 2.0 cable connects your iPhone or iPod with Lightning connector to your computer's USB port for syncing and charging or to the Apple USB Power Adapter for convenient charging from a wall outlet."

• Answered by Zsolt V from Budapest
• 14/09/2012
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This USB 2.0 cable connects your iPhone or iPod with Lightning connector to your computer's USB port for syncing and charging or to the Apple USB Power Adapter for convenient charging from a wall outlet.

• Answered by Travis O from Pflugerville
• 14/09/2012
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Lightning uses USB 2. Realistically, there's no point in it being USB 3, as USB 2 is more than sufficient, as iPhone/iPod/iPad storage is the bottleneck of transfer speed.

Lightning's advantage is that peripherals can hook up serially rather than via parallel pins, allowing for more abundant I/O possibilities.

• Answered by Alexander M from Toronto
• 12/01/2013
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