Kuo: iPhone 15 to Switch From Lightning to USB-C in 2023

[Marie.D]

I've only used Apple products since maybe 2005 (? I'd have to look it up) but Apple has played it safe with newer tech since I can remember. When 3G came out Apple didn't have it. Same with 4G and 5G. Fast charging... No, Adobe Flash... Nope OLED... Nope not Apple. 120 Hz... No again. When Google was putting RADAR in their phones Apple didn't have it. If you want the latest thing Apple isn't going to be there. I actually like this about Apple because I know what they do put out will actually work and is tested.

That’s why I said “where it mattered”. I am not talking about gimmicks that others manufacturers are adding to differentiate themselves, I’m talking about core components. You list 4G but the iPhone 5 had 4G in 2012, in 2013 the US coverage of 4G was around 20%.

Flash started to greatly decline in usage when it was everywhere, and died 5 years later. Apple had a vision for Flash, and they stuck to it. What’s the vision for the lack of decent speeds and a universal connector? It’s not like every other products in their lineup lineup doesn’t have USB-C since 2 or 3 years already.

Yet here we are, where future 14 Pro (lol) owners will enjoy top USB 2.0 speeds straight out of 1996 to move their 8K footage/48MP libraries around I’m sure.

 

[iStorm]

It really isn’t.

Wireless Charging requires direct placement in order to properly charge, and I find it’s inconsistent at times, Especially when it moves around in the car due to motion.

And I’m also not entirely comfortable with how warm my iPhone is when it is wireless charging, which can’t be healthy for the Li-ion battery.

This is where MagSafe comes in. It's strong enough to magnetically lock the phone in the proper place. There are MagSafe car mounts too...it's not moving around.

I primarily charge my iPhone 13 using Apple's MagSafe charger. My phone doesn't get any warmer than it does if I just plug it in. Also, battery health is still at 100% after eight months. You'd think it'd be much lower by now with all the bad rap wireless charging gets.

 

[TruthWatcher412]

Awesome! I haven't had an iPhone since iPhone 6S Plus and have been using a Google Pixel since they were released and am planning on going back to iOS. I got an iPad Mini 6 this year and absolutely love it so looking forward to using an iPhone again.

 

[eatrains]

It is about time to switch to USB-C, as we need the faster file transfer speeds to upload PRORES videos and other media than the slower Lightning port can handle.

Neither Lightning nor USB-C dictate transfer speed, they dictate the connector. There's USB 3 Lightning and USB 2 USB-C.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

Neither Lightning nor USB-C dictate transfer speed, they dictate the connector. There's USB 3 Lightning and USB 2 USB-C.

But then how come Apple hasn’t upgraded the speed of Lightning in the iPhone? There must be some limitation…

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

Honestly suprised its taking them this long to implement USB-C... its a bit ridiculous that a pro device with ambitions of 8K video capability won't have USB-C. I'm still anticipating the switch this year tbh.

It happens no sooner than the moment EU fines get too high for Apple.

But if the EU backs down entirely or makes fines insignificant then there’s no USB-C for iPhone.

I see it as far more likely that we get no new ports this year or at best the slightly faster USB 3.0 based version of Lightning for iPhone 14 that Apple already used for iPads Pro for a couple iterations (or just one? I don’t remember.)

Or Apple will simply upgrade Lightning to be faster.

As long as there’s no fines, Apple will keep Lightning on its best selling product.

There’s just too many units sold per year. Mfi is too lucrative to abandon.

 

[aaronhead14]

Yesssss FINALLY! This is GREAT news!

 

[russell_314]

That’s why I said “where it mattered”. I am not talking about gimmicks that others manufacturers are adding to differentiate themselves, I’m talking about core components. You list 4G but the iPhone 5 had 4G in 2012, in 2013 the US coverage of 4G was around 20%.

Flash started to greatly decline in usage when it was everywhere, and died 5 years later. Apple had a vision for Flash, and they stuck to it. What’s the vision for the lack of decent speeds and a universal connector? It’s not like every other products in their lineup lineup doesn’t have USB-C since 2 or 3 years already.

Yet here we are, where future 14 Pro (lol) owners will enjoy top USB 2.0 speeds straight out of 1996 to move their 8K footage/48MP libraries around I’m sure.

It mattered to the people complaining back then just as much as it matters to the people complaining now. I totally agree with you that there needs to be an option for faster transfer especially for those with the "Pro" iPhone. I don't think it's going to be 8K just yet though. As I said before "not Apple"

 

[cult hero]

This should have been done with the iPhone 7.

Good riddance. I can’t think of any cable I’ve had to replace more than lightning cables.

 

[eatrains]

But then how come Apple hasn’t upgraded the speed of Lightning in the iPhone? There must be some limitation…

Who knows. But if there is a speed limitation, it could still apply to a USB-C connector.

 

[Sincci]

Make it Thunderbolt 4 as an F-u to the EU.

This is sarcasm, right? Because Thunderbolt 4 uses USB-C as it's connector. EU would be more than fine with that.

 

[bobtem]

Great, now all my Apple devices can be charged with one port type. Wait, except my new MBP…

 

[beanbaguk]

I've mentioned this on literally every thread relating to this topic and I'm shocked how few people realise why Apple dragged their feet on this.

Each and every properly licensed MFi accessory (including lightning cables), netted Apple about $4. Admittedly this figure was from 2014, but even if they net half that per piece of hardware sold, you are looking at 10's of millions in lost revenue to Apple with the removal of the cable. Back in 2005, it was $10 per MFi device sold or 10% of the total retail cost (whichever was greater)!!!!

What is MFi-certified accessories and how to find them

Things you need to know about Apple MFi certified accessories, Why it matters: 1. 1. Quality of products, 2. Safety and risks involved...

www.igeeksblog.com

For those who still don't get this, let's add some perspective. Apple sold 239 million iPhones in 2021.

I, like many other iPhone users, have several lightning cables. One in the car, one in the lounge, another spare in my work bag; But let's say each and every iPhone user bought one extra lightning cable.

You are now talking about 239 million lightning cables sold in 2021 alone. Now, for the purpose of fairness, I'm going to say that only 75% of them are genuine, or are MFi licensed.

We now have 179.3 million MFi cables sold.

Again for fairness, let's say only half of them were non-Apple, so 89.7 million non-Apple MFi cables sold.

Now apply royalties. $4 per device sold.

You are talking about $359 million in lost revenue to Apple if the same iPhone sales would apply in 2023 as they did in 2021. I expect them, however, to be a lot more.

And that's on new devices only! Now apply that to the previous 5 generations of iPhones out there. 100's of millions, heck billions of revenue that will now slowly dry up.

By eliminating lightning from their phones and switching to USB-C, MFi no longer applies to cables since USB-C is an open standard from Intel. No royalties to Apple anymore on new devices.

Now, hopefully, the savings made by the hardware manufacturer will be passed on to the consumer, but we'll just have to see about that. It's unlikely.

So to all those saying Apple doesn't want to switch as it'll be a step back; You're all wrong. Apple has been deliberately stifling innovation to drive profits.

 

[bluecoast]

I wonder if the EU legislation applies only to new models or if Apple will have to 'retrofit' its old models to have USB-C?

If so, you have to imagine that it'll be impossible to do this with the SE3.

But maybe the allegedly poor sales of the SE3 means that we'll get a SE4 based on the XR in 2023 - coincidentally with USBC?

And if old models cannot be sold with lightening cables, perhaps this means that the 2022 models will disappear in Europe in 2023 - 2023 is going to be the year when we see a redesign of both models and that would be a great time to add USB-C.

And I bet this will also be the year where Apple really pushes 'hardware as a service' to encourage everyone to just rent new 2023 USB-C iPhones already.

 

[beanbaguk]

I’ll believe it when I see it. Apple makes too much money off their proprietary lightning port to give it up unless they’re worried about antitrust laws.

And as per my recently published reply, this is the sole reason they are dragging their feet on this.

Apple makes billions annually as a result of MFi royalties.

 

[JippaLippa]

Don't know...
I'd expect the 2023 iPhone to go portless.
That and a periscope lens would make quite the redesign.

 

[bluecoast]

I've mentioned this on literally every thread relating to this topic and I'm shocked how few people realise why Apple dragged their feet on this.

Each and every properly licensed MFi accessory (including lightning cables), netted Apple about $4. Admittedly this figure was from 2014, but even if they net half that per piece of hardware sold, you are looking at 10's of millions in lost revenue to Apple with the removal of the cable. Back in 2005, it was $10 per MFi device sold or 10% of the total retail cost (whichever was greater)!!!!

What is MFi-certified accessories and how to find them

Things you need to know about Apple MFi certified accessories, Why it matters: 1. 1. Quality of products, 2. Safety and risks involved...

www.igeeksblog.com

For those who still don't get this, let's add some perspective. Apple sold 239 million iPhones in 2021.

I, like many other iPhone users, have several lightning cables. One in the car, one in the lounge, another spare in my work bag; But let's say each and every iPhone user bought one extra lightning cable.

You are now talking about 239 million lightning cables sold in 2021 alone. Now, for the purpose of fairness, I'm going to say that only 75% of them are genuine, or are MFi licensed.

We now have 179.3 million MFi cables sold.

Again for fairness, let's say only half of them were non-Apple, so 89.7 million non-Apple MFi cables sold.

Now apply royalties. $4 per device sold.

You are talking about $359 million in lost revenue to Apple if the same iPhone sales would apply in 2023 as they did in 2021. I expect them, however, to be a lot more.

And that's on new devices only! Now apply that to the previous 5 generations of iPhones out there. 100's of millions, heck billions of revenue that will now slowly dry up.

By eliminating lightning from their phones and switching to USB-C, MFi no longer applies to cables since USB-C is an open standard from Intel. No royalties to Apple anymore on new devices.

Now, hopefully, the savings made by the hardware manufacturer will be passed on to the consumer, but we'll just have to see about that. It's unlikely.

So to all those saying Apple doesn't want to switch as it'll be a step back; You're all wrong. Apple has been deliberately stifling innovation to drive profits.

Great analysis

And as another poster said, we can expect MagSafe this year and the next to be really pushed.

And perhaps MagSafe will have some sort of 'must have'.

I wouldn't put it past Apple to make the 2024 Pro iPhones MagSafe only i.e. portless & then the regular iPhone soon after.

Then all that lightening licensing revenue will come back with a vengeance.

 

[kingtj1971]

Hell no to wireless charging. It'd be a huge environment issue. And wireless charging is less convenient in many ways.

I will say one thing about wireless charging; it helps encourage the adoption of wireless versions of Apple CarPlay in vehicles. Otherwise, you get the ridiculous situation like Ford has in the new Bronco Sport right now where you can pay extra for a "premium" options package that gives you the inductive charging pad -- but CarPlay still only works with a USB to Lightning cable attached. So the charging pad is pointless.

 

[beanbaguk]

Great analysis

And as another poster said, we can expect MagSafe this year and the next to be really pushed.

And perhaps MagSafe will have some sort of 'must have'.

I wouldn't put it past Apple to make the 2024 Pro iPhones MagSafe only i.e. portless & then the regular iPhone soon after.

Then all that lightening licensing revenue will come back with a vengeance.

They are not stupid, that's for sure. This is what makes companies like Apple so successful.

They make you believe they care, which they do. About the many dollars we, the consumer hand over to them annually.

Put it this way. Back in 2003, imagine if I told you that you would pay $1200 for a phone. You'd throw a Ballmer at me!

And then imagine if I said, many people change their phones every year. So effectively, you are paying $100 per month, plus your Apple subscriptions, AirPods, Apple Watch every couple of years, new iPad every 2-3 years.

We're all suckers, (me included).

We live in a mad world.

 

[JoeShades]

So both ends of the cable will be usb-c ? I guess that means buying a usb-C to A csble for carplay

 

[sherwinzadeh]

They should transition to it like the iPad and have the Pro models have USB-C first... I mean they should have done this like 2 years ago.

 

[rum0rm0nger]

It’s about damn time finally just 1 cable to charge devices when traveling (except for Apple Watch I don’t mind having a separate cable for that).

Also usb2 speeds via lightning on a pro device with prores is just terrible. Hopefully apple implements a usb4/tb4 20 or 40 gbps solution on the pro iPhones with usb-c.

I still can't believe there are new products using microUSB. That kills me.

 

[iStorm]

Neither Lightning nor USB-C dictate transfer speed, they dictate the connector. There's USB 3 Lightning and USB 2 USB-C.

I'm not aware of anything using USB 3 Lightning. There is a sketchy rumor that it'll be added to the iPhone 14 though. The USB-C ports on the iPads do support faster transfer speeds, so I can't imagine Apple doing something differently for the iPhones. But you are right, they could still do USB 2 USB-C on the iPhones. That would be a crappy move if they did.

 

[AppleFan1998]

Hopefully, they release Lightning 2 with backward compatibility or just go all wireless soon with better charging speeds and some kind of data transfer that’s fast and convenient. That USB-C is fragile and can just clog up. Rather have users clean the iPhone port than try and clean the USB-C.

 

[rum0rm0nger]

Such legislation, if passed, would require Apple to either ship specially designed USB-C equipped models of its products to Europe while keeping the rest of the world stuck with Lightning or adopt USB-C for all of its products globally.

Or just ship all of their iPhones in the EU with a Lightning > USB-C dongle, as they have done in the past with the Lightning > 3.5 mm earphone jack adapters.

The legislation, if passed, would require that all devices big enough actually have a USB-C port, not just that manufacturers make them compatible with USB-C via workarounds like a dongle. So the article is correct - Apple would actually have to make USB-C devices if the legislation passes.

I wonder if the EU legislation applies only to new models or if Apple will have to 'retrofit' its old models to have USB-C?

If so, you have to imagine that it'll be impossible to do this with the SE3.

But maybe the allegedly poor sales of the SE3 means that we'll get a SE4 based on the XR in 2023 - coincidentally with USBC?

And if old models cannot be sold with lightening cables, perhaps this means that the 2022 models will disappear in Europe in 2023 - 2023 is going to be the year when we see a redesign of both models and that would be a great time to add USB-C.

And I bet this will also be the year where Apple really pushes 'hardware as a service' to encourage everyone to just rent new 2023 USB-C iPhones already.

There is no way that they would require retrofitting existing devices with a different port. That's just a technical impossibility. Rather, the legislation would very likely have some runway and state something like all devices sold in the EU as of a particular date (probably 1-2 years in the future) needing to have USB-C.