A bumpy battery case isn’t the only new product from Apple this month. The iPad-specific Lightning to SD Card Reader has been replaced with a newer version with the same name, appearance, and price, but one important electronic difference. It now takes advantage of the faster USB 3 transfer speeds supported by new iPad Pros and works with iPhones…
As was the case with its predecessor, the new Lightning to SD Card Reader allows iPad users to import photos and videos from SD cards used in digital cameras for viewing and editing on the tablet. For many people, this adapter is critical for using an iPad to replace a laptop for photo editing, as iPads can’t read SD cards otherwise. The updated adapter also works with iPhones for the first time.
Apple notes that the updated adapter only benefits from faster speeds on the new iPad Pro, as all previous iPads don’t feature the same upgraded Lightning port. Curiously, the Lightning to USB Camera Adapter, which lets you connect cameras and other devices including the iPhone primarily for video and photo transfer, does not yet appear to have an updated version to support USB 3 transfer speeds.
Using the new Lightning to SD Card Reader adapter with iPad Pro should result in faster transfer speeds between SD cards and the high end iPads, which will be most noticeable when transferring larger files like high-resolution images and 4K videos.
The old and new adapters are hardly distinguishable from one another aside from part number, so be careful when buying if you have an iPad Pro or expect to use the adapter with a future iPad model. Model MJYT2AM/A supports USB 3 on iPad Pro and works with iPhones, while MD822ZM/A is limited to USB 2 speeds on all iPads and doesn’t work with iPhones.
Update: iOS 9.2 also enables the previous Lightning to SD Card Reader to work with iPhones.
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Apple these days..
What is wrong with updating an adapter to take advantage of new technologies?
He’s probably an upset Air 2 owner, or upset that it didn’t get updated to the advantage of the USB 3 speed…
Aaaa.. Nothing
What?
Nothing
(fill in the blanks)
Take a peek into the Lightening port on an iPad Pro and you will see electrical connections on BOTH sides!
Somehow all the reviewers and tear downs failed to make this simple observation.
Not for lack of being told. I commented on it on the iFixit teardown a month ago, submitted the info to all the major sites via Twitter (including 9to5), and several of the Mac “luminaries” like Andy Ihnatko and Jim Dalrymple…only John Gruber ran it (and he was the last person I went to with the news, he didn’t sit on it).
Baffling to me how “tech” people could have missed such a massive improvement. And I didn’t even HAVE an iPad Pro shipped to me by Apple; I just was looking out for an update to Lightning thanks to Engineer’s Intuition.
Light’e’ning?
I’m looking in my iPhone’s lightning connector and can’t see the pins. I don’t blame journalists for not taking lights and magnifying glasses to ports.
“The iPad-specific Lightning to SD Card Reader” it says right there on Apple’s site it supports all iPhone models with Lightning. Only USB 2 speed of course.
Can someone explain why Apple can’t make this writable as well? There are people who would love to transfer photos into the device, edit and transfer it back to the card and/or to a different card to send to someone else.
Cloud storage is too slow, the same reason this device exists in the first place.
U nevee know wh’t happens in the future these days
U never know wh’t happens in the future these days
Because then it would be harder to charge $100 for 16-32GB of flash memory.
Yea, that wouldn’t surprised me.
I already know several folks who will never get an iPad Pro because they cannot transfer 4K content in and out of it with their cameras. Instead they have decided to switch to Surface Pro. Frankly, I’m starting to think that may be the best option for myself as well next year if iOS 10 doesn’t remove this restrictions.
To bad Apple includes lightning USB 2 cables instead of USB 3 with the iPad Pro.
Toouché
The lightening connector still an amazing bit of tech just not used beyond is basic premiss
Allegedly it doesn’t work with iOS11:
www . apple . com /shop/reviews/MJYT2AM/A/lightning-to-sd-card-camera-reader