Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) have been at the forefront of technology as we know it for quite some time now, despite their polar opposite ways of approaching things. While Microsoft likes to take it slow with the technological inventions happening around it, Apple tends to force feed its consumers into adopting the same. However, they seem to have gotten it right most of the times with their methods of dealing with new technological breakthroughs. Until now, that is.
Microsoft, in their recently announced Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2, has decided to exclude both the USB-C and the Thunderbolt 3 from their devices. On the other hand, Apple, in their recent MacBook Pro, has taken the completely different approach but including only the USB-C port, and nothing else.
What Is the USB-C?
The USB-C refers to the newest trend in data transfer technology. It is the industry standard connector for both data and power. It aims for the classic goal, that there will be one port that can connect all devices. All the devices might include other laptops and smartphones to name a few. Other than that, the USB-C can also be used to connect to wall-chargers, as well as headphones.
One of the major features of the USB-C is the fact that it can support the Thunderbolt 3. It supports ultra-fast data transfer speeds, going up to 5 GB per second (5 Gbps). This speed is either double or more than the maximum speed of the previous USB versions released before it. For example, the USB 3.2 could reach data transfer speeds of about 2.5 GB per second only.
Get Too Ahead Of The Trend Or Too Behind
Microsoft and Apple seem to be forcing us to either get too much into the future by adopting the newest tech in town, regardless of the fact that it will be months before anyone else adopts it, or, you could just adopt tech that is prevalent now but won’t be for too long, making it a very tough task to adopt the newest technology when the others start adopting it. It’s either too much or too less.
If people do buy the Surface Pro 6 or the Surface Laptop 2, it’ll be impossible for them to upgrade to the latest hardware and devices when they are hot in the market. On the contrary, if people buy one of the MacBook and MacBook Pro, they’d have to wait an eternity to use it properly.
The weird thing about Microsoft is that there are Surface devices which are indeed on USB-C as well. Yet, the Surface Pro 6 and the Surface Laptop 2 are not.
Is this a ploy to make the customers buy the more expensive versions more? Maybe. But even then, integrating out-dated technology in its latest devices makes no sense at all.
Therefore, at the moment, it is technically a lose-lose situation for the consumers of both parties. People will most probably resort to buying devices which sport all the relevant technology and ports instead of gambling on the above two devices. And that, my friend, has almost never been said about Apple and Microsoft.
What Next For Both Tech Giants
Gone are the days of the rivalry in between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Both of them managed to make a big company out of their vision for the future. But right now, certain decisions are starting to come across as dubious in both cases. This is not like it is the first time this is happening. But the approaches of both the companies are now starting to look weirder by the day. Will it work out in the future? We’ll have to wait and see.
