Here's Why Apple Hasn't Made a Portless iPhone

[MacRumors]

Over the years, there have been rumors suggesting that Apple eventually wants to make an iPhone without any ports, allowing for a completely wireless charging experience. An iPhone without ports has been speculated about, and Apple has even published patents for an all-glass iPhone with no ports or buttons.

Apple apparently considered making its dream a reality with the upcoming iPhone 17 Air, but ultimately decided not to do so. In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that one of Apple's ideas for the iPhone 17 Air was to design it without a USB-C port, which means it would only charge via MagSafe.

Apple did not end up going in that direction, because there were internal concerns that eliminating the USB-C port in the iPhone 17 Air would get the company in trouble with regulators in the European Union.

With the iPhone 15 lineup, Apple transitioned away from Lightning and adopted USB-C for iPhones because of an EU law that passed in 2022. The law requires technology companies to use a "common port," aka USB-C, for charging purposes. Technically, the law only applies in the European Union, but it was easier for Apple to make the change worldwide than to develop a special USB-C iPhone in Europe and continue using Lightning elsewhere.

Along with potentially angering the European regulators, getting rid of the charging port on an iPhone entirely would undoubtedly upset customers. When Apple eliminated the headphone jack from the iPhone 7, there was a lot of pushback from iPhone users, and other smartphone brands like Samsung spent plenty of time making fun of Apple's choice before ultimately following Apple's lead and removing headphone jacks from Android smartphones.

The iPhone 16 models now support MagSafe charging at up to 25W, and can fast charge with MagSafe and a 30W power adapter. Fast charging allows an iPhone to charge to 50 percent in 30 minutes, and the faster MagSafe charging puts wireless charging on par with fast charging over USB-C. With fast charging available with MagSafe, there wouldn't be a downside to eliminating the USB-C port in terms of speed, but there would be far less flexibility because USB-C chargers and cables have become so universal.

Though Apple isn't adopting a port-free design for the iPhone 17 Air, it's not an idea the company is abandoning. If the new super thin iPhone sells well, Apple will revisit portless iPhones and slim down the rest of the iPhone lineup, too.

Article Link: Here's Why Apple Hasn't Made a Portless iPhone

 

[AppleTO]

It would also eliminate any potential buyers that need wired CarPlay.

 

[ghostface147]

Wireless syncing is markedly slower than wired syncs.

 

[AusMness]

Literally what is the benefit to this, we just got standard USB-C

 

[goobot]

Please no

 

[tuckerjj]

The EU has nothing to do with it. The law explicitly says that if a device only charges wirelessly then (of course) there’s no requirement to charge with USB-C.

15. Can radio equipment that can only be recharged via wireless charging be made available on the market without incorporating the harmonised charging solution?

Yes. Since, such radio equipment cannot be recharged via wired charging, it does not need to incorporate the harmonised (wired) charging solution.

 

[jz0309]

it'll come, give it time ...

 

[AppleTO]

It would be a pain to use in enterprise settings. Configurator would have to support wireless DFU.

 

[AF_APPLETALK]

They should have brought MagSafe with copper connectors over from the MacBooks a long time ago. Now we're stuck with that "wireless" implementation, or USB-C cause the EU.

 

[I/0]

Nobody wants this for one.

 

[Plerf]

This is, of course, where Apple is actually right that regulations like this stop useful innovation.

 

[Radin.Y]

Apple spends plenty of time talking about how professional videographers use iPhones for filming. If they remove the port, good luck syncing such large files wirelessly.

Also, I only know how to choose a custom ringtone by using a Mac to transfer it to the iPhone. Is there a way nowadays to do so without needing the Mac?

 

[Astuces iOS]

I would be happy because people from DMA would not like lol...

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Apple:
States in 2012 Lightning will be the connector for the decade (which for those keeping count, is 2022)
Working on USB-C with other companies, has more team members working on USB-C than any company other than Intel.
Shipped one of the first devices that focused on USB-C support.

EU:
DO microUSB!

Apple & the rest of the world:
Ignore EU, do USB-C

Apple:
Begins working on the iPhone chipset and software that would have extensive support for USB-C.
Continues to work on the A16 and A17 pro chips for the iPhone 15, Pro and Max, the first ones that will support USB-C. Iterating hardware, modifying software stack, work that takes years to complete

EU in 2022:
No, wait, DO USB-C in 2024

Commentariat:
OOOOOH! They’re going to release a portless iPhone! No way they’d put the USB-C port that they helped create in it! No way at ALL! And definitely not in 2023 which would be the first opportunity to change ports since they said they would after 2022.

Apple in 2023:
Either—
a. Does the work of YEARS in one year not to simply meet and EU requirement, but to BEAT it by a year.
OR
b. Met the deadline they set for themselves.

Most people will say that Apple has a godlike ability to do all that work in one year, still.

 

[Think|Different]

I am sure it is far more nuanced than that.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Because it's a garbage idea.

 

[dave559]

A data port is still necessary because, for some stupid reason, you can't sync your photos from your iPhone to your Mac over WiFi. 🙄

Although, having said that, iPhone <-> Mac syncing seems to get flakier and flakier with every software update these days… 😠

(And, no, iSomebodyElsesComputer is not the answer I'm looking for)

 

[jayducharme]

EU's insistence on USB-C is going to come back to bite manufacturers. The ports are larger than lightning and won't allow for much smaller devices (unless the USB-C standard is changed). Wireless charging really is the more sensible way forward at this point. As tuckerjj pointed out, the EU does allow for that option. But I suspect that if MagSafe is proprietary, the EU wouldn't allow them to use it.

 

[tuckerjj]

Apple spends plenty of time talking about how professional videographers use iPhones for filming. If they remove the port, good luck syncing such large files wirelessly.

Also, I only know how to choose a custom ringtone by using a Mac to transfer it to the iPhone. Is there a way nowadays to do so without needing the Mac?

Presumably the Pro phones would keep the port.

 

[ItchyRat2160]

Literally what is the benefit to this, we just got standard USB-C

Back to MagSafe exclusivity and Made for Apple licensed accessories. They do not want USB at all cos they can't make money off it. And if they ever go port-less, I won't be buying until they can make syncing 1TB of music and photos happen in 5 mins or less wirelessly.

 

[techfreak23]

I hope they never go portless. What a dumb idea. Wireless capabilities will never top wired. I can't even directly transfer files over usb-c to the Files app. Anything larger than a couple of gigs fails a large majority of the time using AirDrop. I usually have to use an online file storage service to move files like that from my mac to my iPad or iPhone. It's ridiculous.

 

[ThisIsMike]

“getting rid of the charging port on an ‌iPhone‌ entirely would undoubtedly upset customers”

This is the primary reason. It’s going to be a rough year for Apple. They’ll need every sale they can make. Every person put off from purchasing a portless phone (of which I would be one), it’s going to hurt. This isn’t the time to alienate folks.

Look for them to revisit when they’re in a position of strength in the marketplace. Maybe the following fall?

 

[Nermal]

Although, having said that, iPhone <-> Mac syncing seems to get flakier and flakier with every software update these days… 😠

Indeed. I don't even bother with AirDrop any more, since it seems to fail more often than it succeeds. If it's one photo I tend to email it to myself, but if I have a whole batch then it's plug in time (and if one of the photos was only taken a few moments ago, then potentially unplug and replug until it shows up).

 

[tuckerjj]

I suspect that if MagSafe is proprietary, the EU wouldn't allow them to use it.

Not yet, but that’s coming.

Regarding wireless charging, the Commission will promote the harmonisation of wireless charging in order to avoid future fragmentation of the internal market and any negative effects on consumer and the environment. The Commission will monitor the evolution of all types of wireless charging technologies (not only inductive), particularly market developments, market penetration, market fragmentation, technological performance, interoperability, energy efficiency and charging performance.

 

[ThomasJL]

Please stop with this portless nonsense!

All other things being equal:
• Wireless headphones have worse sound quality than wired headphones.
• Bluetooth stereo connections have worse sound quality than wired stereo connections.
• Wireless charging is slower and less energy efficient than wired charging.