(Photo: The Verge)
The Lightning connector was a great innovation when it first debuted on the 2012 iPhone 5. However, two years later, a much better alternative technology appeared on the market, and that was the USB port. -C. Many phone manufacturers as well as other components in the mobile industry quickly “boarded” and adopted USB-C because it was superior to predecessor technologies.
However, Apple is still “stubborn” not to bring USB-C to the iPhone. This is likely to change in the short term. Renowned analyst Ming Chi Kuo posted on Twitter that his latest survey shows that Apple will replace the Lightning port with USB-C from the iPhone 15, or in other words, from the second half of 2023.
He said USB-C will improve charging and data transfer speeds, but the final technical details will depend on iOS.
It is not clear if the change will be for all iPhone 15 models or just a few models, for a region or for the whole world. One of the strongest catalysts for the decision to be made is the increasing pressure from the EU authorities. The European Parliament has long discussed the common charging standard for mobile device manufacturers in the EU. Members of the Senate voted to approve a new rule in April that would force smartphones and other electronic devices to use USB-C ports to reduce e-waste.
Of course, not all of Mr. Kuo’s judgments are completely correct. We only know if the information is true or not when the iPhone 15 is released. However, pressure from the EU cannot be underestimated and it could be a clear signal that Apple will bring USB-C to the iPhone. Apple itself doesn’t completely reject USB-C, as evidenced by the company’s use of USB-C ports for the most recent iPad models, and the use of USB-C-compatible Thunderbolt ports on many Macs.