One thing you have to say for Apple: the company isn’t afraid to do whatever is necessary to innovate. Its innovation, however, can throw a monkey wrench into the works, so to speak, for the average consumer who likes the consistency of standards. (This doesn’t even consider the manufacturers who also have to adapt to these big hardware changes.)

The latest hardware change for the next iPhone and next iPad will involve moving from the standard 30 pin dock connector (that Apple has used forever) to a new smaller 19 pin design. While rumors suggest that the new smaller 19 pin connector design was necessary for changes Apple wanted to make in the new iPhone, it leaves consumers with already licensed accessories that use the older 30 pin connector on the hook to purchase new accessories that use the new 19 pin connector.

While sometimes hardware changes such as this are attributed to folks being early adopters, this isn’t the case here, as the 30 pin connector has been around for years. Manufacturers will likely be pleased with the pin change decision, as it means sales for them; but the consumers who happen to have a current 3rd generation iPad and then purchase the new iPhone will be forced to carry two cables to charge both devices.

This isn’t the first time this has happened and it will not be the last. It is unknown yet whether an adaptor is possible to enable the 19 pin devices to work with the older 30 pin connectors, but we suspect that companies are already looking into this. While you can call it innovation and technology moving forward, it still costs consumers money and obsoletes their hardware, and that isn’t always a good thing.