An iPhone 15 USB-C port, successful spot of a Lightning one, is “essentially a lock,” says Mark Gurman successful his latest Power On newsletter.

It has been wide speculated that Apple volition take the iPhone 15 to marque the switch, a twelvemonth up of it becoming mandatory for each smartphones sold wrong the European Union, but Gurman’s connection is the strongest we’ve seen to day …

Background

Apple has ever gone its ain mode connected iPhone connectors, thing which has proven a payment successful the past. When the manufacture modular was microUSB – a unidirectional plug and larboard which was astir universally hated for being awkward to insert – Apple had the vastly amended bidirectional Lightning port.

However, the dreaded microUSB larboard has been superseded by USB-C, which is arsenic casual to usage arsenic a Lightning port. Apple was an aboriginal adopter of this larboard successful MacBooks, and astir of its iPads person swapped retired Lightning for USB-C. The Lightning connector successful the iPhone is present thing of an anomaly successful the lineup. Many Apple owners would invited being capable to usage USB-C chargers and cables for each their devices.

Apple volition besides beryllium efficaciously forced to marque the power to USB-C for its 2024 iPhone lineup, arsenic that’s the twelvemonth successful which it will go a ineligible requirement for each smartphones sold wrong the 27 countries of the EU. While it’s theoretically imaginable that Apple could power to the USB-C larboard lone connected European exemplary iPhones, this would beryllium an unnecessary complication, and it seems acold likelier that it volition marque the alteration worldwide.

iPhone 15 USB-C port

The ineligible request would footwear successful with the iPhone 16 successful 2024, but determination person been repeated reports that Apple plans to marque the power a twelvemonth earlier, successful the iPhone 15.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said backmost successful May that supply-chain probe pointed to Apple making the power from Lightning to USB-C in the 2nd fractional of 2023. Bloomberg reported the aforesaid period that Apple was internally investigating an iPhone plan with a USB-C port, but said lone that 2023 would beryllium the earliest that the institution would marque the change.

However, the paper’s Mark Gurman goes further than this successful his latest Power On newsletter.

Apple has been preparing for this law. I deliberation the institution volition adjacent handily bushed the owed day with its astir disposable products. The iPhone 15 is fundamentally a fastener to get USB-C successful the autumn of 2023, beating the mandate by a year.

Other possibilities bash remain

While the caller instrumentality is clear, it does person a mates of workarounds. Apple could technically conscionable the request to let iPhones to beryllium charged via USB-C by including a USB-C-to-Lightning adapter successful the battalion – but that doesn’t look likely.

Some person besides suggested that the Cupertino institution mightiness instrumentality the 2024 deadline arsenic the clip to leap to a afloat portless iPhone, which tin lone beryllium charged wirelessly. This would again comply with the law, arsenic it lone applies to devices that enactment wired charging. But portion astir consumers would apt beryllium blessed with wireless charging and information transfer, determination are inactive professionals who usage the iPhone wrong their workflows, and who privation the fastest-possible information transfers and charging.

AirPods, Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad

As we noted, the request besides applies to a wide scope of different products, which – for Apple – would mean switching to USB-C charging for AirPods, Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad.

Gurman emphasizes that the instrumentality applies lone to new devices, truthful Apple is escaped to proceed to merchantability each existing Lightning-powered models for arsenic agelong arsenic it wishes. But arsenic soon arsenic it produces an updated model, the USB-C charging request kicks in. There’s nary knowing erstwhile Apple would take to update its Mac input devices, truthful these could good modulation to USB-C astatine a aboriginal date.

Render: Concepts iPhone

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