It’s time for everybody’s favourite growth on the earth of Apple tech: a port change. Yep, that’s proper. After what can have been about 11 years, the iPhone is as soon as once more altering its charging port, this time from Lightning to the more and more ubiquitous USB-C. (For comparability sake, the earlier 30-pin dock connector, lasted simply 9 years, from the third-generation iPod to the iPhone 5.)
Everyone knows the advantages that the USB-C transition will convey: interoperability, much less cable waste, and enhancements in velocity. However it’ll additionally trigger some ache for individuals who have scads of Lightning cables mendacity round that can be, if not ineffective, then at the least superfluous.
Nonetheless, even with the massive change that’s the iPhone’s charging port, Lightning received’t be excised from throughout Apple’s line-up. Together with the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14, which is able to nonetheless be offered, in addition to the iPhone SE, there are a number of different merchandise that may nonetheless must make the transition earlier than there can actually be one port to rule all of them. Right here’s a rundown of the most important gadgets nonetheless utilizing Lightning and after they would possibly embrace the USB-C future.
AirPods hit the excessive C
Apple’s AirPods line-up has multiplied within the final a number of years, with a minimum of three separate new fashions at present accessible: AirPods 3, AirPods Professional 2, and AirPods Max (the corporate additionally nonetheless sells the second-generation AirPods). At present, all of those headphones use Lightning ports for charging.
The change to USB-C for AirPods might not occur till subsequent yr.
Foundry
Within the case of the earbud fashions, a change to USB-C is relatively easy: all it requires is swapping out the charging case. That mentioned, anyone who’s frolicked coping with syncing circumstances and AirPods has probably run into some frustration there, and there’s an open query of whether or not or not Apple will even let customers simply purchase a brand new USB-C charging case for his or her present AirPods when such a product is accessible. (My guess is sure as a result of that’s principally free cash for the corporate.) There hasn’t been a variety of noise about revisions to the AirPods or AirPods Professional this fall, which means that we’d not see a model with USB-C till subsequent yr.
The AirPods Max is a extra fascinating query. Unrevised since its launch in December 2020, the over-the-ear headphones have a Lightning port constructed into it—although the included cable does have a USB-C plug on the opposite finish. There haven’t been any imminent rumors of Apple revamping the AirPods Max, which suggests {that a} new model would possibly arrive later—maybe even alongside different up to date AirPods.
Mac peripherals Cs the day
The Mac was the primary of Apple’s product traces to decide to USB-C, and the port has now develop into the de facto customary throughout the pc household. Each Mac has at the least a few USB-C ports—in some circumstances, that’s the solely port they’ve.
However the Mac’s peripheral line-up has but to take the leap. The Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad all nonetheless use Lightning, though the newest revision to each the iMac and the Mac Professional—the one Macs that include peripherals within the field—have loads of USB-C ports (and, within the case, of the iMac, solely USB-C/Thunderbolt ports).
Apple might take this chance to position a USB-C port in a greater spot for the Magic Mouse.
IDG
These equipment altering to USB-C looks like solely a matter of time—and what higher alternative to replace them than with a brand new iMac launch? With rumors of an M3 iMac probably arriving as early as this fall, it looks like a great opportunity for the corporate to maneuver these peripherals to USB-C—and possibly it could actually even put the Magic Mouse charging port someplace extra helpful whereas it’s at it.
Charging that prices a C word
The issue with having a connector that’s lasted greater than a decade outdated is that it’s principally permeated all your merchandise over time. There are a handful of miscellaneous gadgets into which Apple has constructed Lightning ports, and which is able to both want to change to USB-C or in the end experience off into the sundown.
Method again when Apple made the brave determination to dump the headphone jack on the iPhone 7, it consoled clients by creating wired headphones with a Lightning connector. Whereas I’m positive the corporate want to get all of its iPhone customers to purchase AirPods, there are some locations the place wired headphones are nonetheless a necessity. So whereas I wouldn’t count on Apple to incorporate wired headphones within the field with the iPhone 15, I nonetheless count on there can be a model with a USB-C plug accessible on the identical time. (Rumors even counsel that they’ve been in manufacturing since April of this yr.)
The corporate additionally sells two charging equipment that use Lightning: the MagSafe Battery Pack and the MagSafe Duo Charger. The battery pack hasn’t been revised since 2021, which makes me suspect a brand new USB-C model would possibly already be ready within the wings. As for the Duo Charger, a part of me wonders whether or not this gadget—which launched in 2020 as an alternative to the debacle that was the never-released AirPower—is in style sufficient for Apple to maintain making it, a lot much less revise it.
That leaves only one little oddity: the Apple Pencil. Sure, the newer model makes use of magnetic induction charging and handily clips onto the aspect of newer iPads, however when Apple launched the Tenth-generation iPad final yr—which, I ought to word, has USB-C as a substitute of Lightning—it selected not so as to add magnetic charging capabilities, resigning customers who wished a Pencil to the awkward dongle life. Will the Eleventh-generation iPad treatment this? I can’t say I’m optimistic. So I’ll put my cash down right here: when all the remainder of Apple’s Lightning-based merchandise have moved on to USB-C, it might be the unique Apple Pencil that’s the final product standing with the outdated customary. And we salute you on your service.
