Although
the original Dock Connector contained 30 pins, reports of 16 - or 19 - pin connectors seemed hard to square with the port's small size and Apple's actual need for additional pins beyond what USB / Micro-USB offer.
Not exact matches
iMore reached out to the
original sources that gave us the new
Dock connector story way back in February just to make doubly sure — and yes, there will be an adapter for the iPhone 5 ′ s smaller
Dock connector that will let it work with many of the accessories designed for the old 30 - pin
Dock connector.
The
original 30 - Pin
Dock Connector was a remarkably future - proof design, and Apple has added functionality to many of the blank pins over time; until now, there's a pin for nearly every function an accessory could possibly want to provide.
When Apple first debuted the
original iPod back in 2001, it didn't use the 30 - Pin Apple
Dock Connector we all know and hate / love today... it used Firewire, Apple's own answer to USB, to pump juice and data from a Mac into their portable music player.