Leaker: Apple to Stick With Lightning Over USB-C for 'iPhone 12' Before Going Port-Less Next Year

[ThisBougieLife]

So Apple can’t make a wireless charger and now they’re going to have wireless be the only charging method? Isn’t wireless charging also much slower than charging with a cable? It’s true that I don’t “sync” anymore, that feels like something from the technological past. But the port is still useful for fast charging.

 

[compwiz1202]

What point would there be in trading one proprietary connector for another? People aren't going to be happy at having to buy new cables and chargers AGAIN.

Why can't Apple just adopt freaking USB-C if they're going to change the connector anyway? They can't be making THAT much money from cables, could they? Just standardize to the rest of the world and stop this nonsense already.

Glad I was smart enough to get a Bluetooth iHome after Lightning came out and it was taking forever for a Lightning iHome to show up. They can change to whatever they want on that perspective. But they still need to make wireless charging faster with more range and public availability for me to get a portless phone.
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So Apple can’t make a wireless charger and now they’re going to have wireless be the only charging method? Isn’t wireless charging also much slower than charging with a cable? It’s true that I don’t “sync” anymore, that feels like something from the technological past. But the port is still useful for fast charging.

Yes on Apple's side we are still limited to 7.5W. I don't understand why people keep arguing the tech exists when it's not for Apple.

 

[wigby]

How do you wirelessly charge a phone when it's, say, in your car being used for navigation (something I do every day to get to work). I like to take a lightning cable with me everywhere I go, and leave one in my car, and leave one at home, because otherwise I'd eventually not have one when I need it. I doubt wireless chargers would be cheap enough to just buy 3 of. They are also much more bulky than a simple cable.

I charge my phone wirelessly in the car using a $15 mount. There are many of them. The charge speed isn’t very fast but I would expect Apple and all 3rd party charger makers to increase speed if they move to portless phones.
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My bigger concern, with no port, is CarPlay. Not many vehicles have wireless CarPlay, including mine. Maybe I'm missing something but how is that going to work without a port? Now you have to buy a new vehicle when a new phone comes out? 😂

Wouldn’t the smart connectors work for charging and data using CarPlay? Not hard to imagine Apple and 3rd parties introducing many car mounts for just such a use case.

 

[spinedoc77]

What about Carplay? I think there are only 1 or 2 carmakers with wireless Carplay, I seem to remember BMW having it as an option? Would all carmakers be able to have wireless Carplay by then? What about those who are not buying a new vehicle? Wireless Carplay is my dream, lack of it is the only reason I still plug my phone into my vehicle. They are going to need some kind of legacy attachment to let those consumers connect to wired Carplay I'd imagine.

 

[Just sayin...]

How do you wirelessly charge a phone when it's, say, in your car being used for navigation (something I do every day to get to work). I like to take a lightning cable with me everywhere I go, and leave one in my car, and leave one at home, because otherwise I'd eventually not have one when I need it. I doubt wireless chargers would be cheap enough to just buy 3 of. They are also much more bulky than a simple cable.

I use a Scosche Magic Mount Charge 3 (https://www.scosche.com/charge3-dash) - it wirelessly charges the phone and holds it up where I can see it for navigation. When I park, I just grab the phone and go.

 

[wigby]

Not going to read 10 pages. People use the port to plug in countless accessories for musical instruments, photography, etcetera. How do people use battery extenders anymore?

Function = form.

Please remember that, Apple.

There will be multiple models just like every year. The highest end model will be wireless only while the other cheaper model iPhones will include lightning. Of course all iPhones (and competing smartphones) will have no ports 3 years from now so this gives customers plenty of transitional time.

 

[UltimateSyn]

I don't see the benefit or the point. It's already extremely water-resistant, what is going portless going to give you as an added feature? They're going to remove the Lightning hardware.... and add the Magnetic Connector hardware.. so I don't see it as a space issue. I just don't understand the driving force behind removing the Lightning connector.

What about Carplay? I think there are only 1 or 2 carmakers with wireless Carplay, I seem to remember BMW having it as an option? Would all carmakers be able to have wireless Carplay by then? What about those who are not buying a new vehicle? Wireless Carplay is my dream, lack of it is the only reason I still plug my phone into my vehicle. They are going to need some kind of legacy attachment to let those consumers connect to wired Carplay I'd imagine.

For the low, low price of $299. Might be the first time in 7 years that I don't buy a new iPhone.

 

[Shirasaki]

This is a slippery slope fallacy. Nobody is suggesting to have high power devices to go wireless. There is no benefit in having a wireless washing machine or tumble drier, and they absorb several, several times more energy than an iPhone. In fact, the energy absorbed by an iPhone is negligible, so a 10% loss is even more negligible.

Anything that seems to be negligible is going to be tangible once reaching a critical mass. Assuming a Qi charger charging an iPhone using 8W, 10% is 0.8W. Just 1 million iPhone’s Qi charging waste is 800kW already, which is enough energy that a sizeable power plant will generate. Heck, even 1% loss (which is 0.08W) is 80kW total waste for 1 million iPhone. So, 10% waste is NOT negligible.

 

[magbarn]

I use a Scosche Magic Mount Charge 3 (https://www.scosche.com/charge3-dash) - it wirelessly charges the phone and holds it up where I can see it for navigation. When I park, I just grab the phone and go.

Besides making my phone run super hot, the problem with wireless charging in my car in it's current form is that it can't even keep up with my 11 Pro Max while running Waze and will start to drain the battery while running.
As mentioned countless times also, we're not buying a new car just so we can have wireless carplay. Besides it's mostly only on luxury vehicles as of now.

 

[AgentElliot007]

There will be multiple models just like every year. The highest end model will be wireless only while the other cheaper model iPhones will include lightning. Of course all iPhones (and competing smartphones) will have no ports 3 years from now so this gives customers plenty of transitional time.

So is the “Pro” iPhone going to be a consumer-only device then? What are the “Pros” that actually use these ports going to do?

And CarPlay.

I just don’t but this happening as soon as even next year. I certainly don’t buy them making the highest-end iPhone have such a serious compromise at this point in time.

This isn’t like removing a headphone jack or changing from Dock Connector to Lightning, this sounds more like the trashcan Mac Pro and an absolute nightmare for travelers and “Pros.”

Edit: To be clear, I love wireless charging and it’s how I charge my iPhone and AirPods 90% of the time. But again, CarPlay. And when my battery is low, fast charging is indispensable, and I’m hesitant to think the conservative Apple will have a much faster wireless option available by then, and at that point, all my 10W chargers (that Apple still doesn’t take full advantage of) do nothing for me in a pinch. I didn’t complain about Lightning, USB-C, the removal of the home button or even headphone jack. I’m generally very forward-thinking on these matters.

But to remove a primary and generally ubiquitous charging port for no port at all is beyond stupid and user-hostile in current times and will be for the foreseeable future.

 

[Will.O.Bie]

How about for most people using their phone while charging? I think wireless charging is a niche that not everyone uses. I use my phone while charging almost always and this will be problematic. I don't see how the Smart Connector will be any different as well. I sure hope this is just a rumor.

 

[gavroche]

omg just f...ing open up again Apple and give us the port that the rest of world including many of your own devices are already using...
Just be courageous for once without being completely impractical! Start changing the world again with ideas that benefit everyone and not just the world of finance with ideas on how to maximize accessory sales and optimizing plattform lock in. It’s just getting ridiculous!

I'm a bit confused how you think Apple would be 'changing the world' by adopting a standard others are already using. What would they be changing? And how is that an example of courage? Courage is doing what people have a hard time accepting, because they are confident it's the future... not doing what is already being done. I guess the words 'change' and 'courage' are being taught differently today than when I was a kid.

 

[dwsolberg]

I'm fine either way because I have a ton of both cables that aren't going away soon. I wonder what the headphone situation will be when the iPhone goes portless. "Wireless" charging is also a bit more a hassle when traveling; I wouldn't mind a travel wireless charger that snaps onto your phone so you don't run out of juice in the car.

 

[CTHarrryH]

I wonder how many people with various devices don't carry dongles to convert one type of port to another? Going to need a separate bag for phone and stuff like I have for my camera.
They will need to do something about iPhone backups - backup to iCloud only backs what what Apple calls critical data where connecting (via cable) to a computer and doing an iTunes or finder backup does all data.
There are tons of issues that really need to be addressed before this happens.
Apple has always been hung up with thinner and lighter and have let function come in second if it comes with size and weight penalties.
Time will tell

 

[timborama]

Portless phone would be the death blow. Then you really are at the whim of Apple for the last few syncing options that are available.

 

[insomniac86]

There is already faster wireless charging than the fastest wired charging that Apple offers.

No there isn’t. Lol. 8.5w wireless vs 22w USB C to lightening fast charge.

 

[NufSaid]

Apple gets things right.

I am not sure how I see the portless thing going and I REALLY want one cord to rule them all.
The wireless charging is going to have to speed up and MORE than one I have dealt with the phone not sitting correctly on the pad and I wake to a dead phone.

 

[nilk]

Was hoping for a USB-C port. Would be nice if we could just standardize on a single port. Macs and iPad Pros have them, so why not? However, I'll take another decade of Lightning over going full wireless.

If there is a smart connector, what kind of bandwidth is that going to have? I'd guess probably enough for credit card readers, but what about, for example, audio? (both output and input) I know the iPad is positioned as the musicians tool, but connecting an audio interface and recording straight into an iPhone is nice when you don't need all the screen space of an iPad. For listening, I've switched back to wired headphones -- tired of the hassle of thinking about whether my headphones are charged up or not, it's nice to just plug in a pair of headphones and know it's going to work.

I do use wireless charging every night (on a 5W charger). There is the rare occasion I need to charge (my 8+) before the day is over, when I'll plug it into an iPad charger for a faster charge.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I hope they don't get rid of all the ports from the iPad and Macs next. That would be insane.

 

[Val-kyrie]

How do you wirelessly charge a phone when it's, say, in your car being used for navigation (something I do every day to get to work). I like to take a lightning cable with me everywhere I go, and leave one in my car, and leave one at home, because otherwise I'd eventually not have one when I need it. I doubt wireless chargers would be cheap enough to just buy 3 of. They are also much more bulky than a simple cable.

Wireless is such a misnomer. Consumers will still need a wire / cable to connect the "wireless" charger to a power source, both at home and in the car unless a person owns one of the few cars which have wireless chargers built-in.

Wireless just changes the point of contact to charge a device from a cable / wire to a pad. For this reason, wireless seems to be much less convenient and flexible.

 

[johnnytravels]

I can't tell if that's a pro or anti capitalism statement.

that’s because it’s an analytical statement without evaluation.
I was replying to a posted that (somewhat apologetically) confused capitalistism with greedy behavior. While the latter has become a somewhat dominant feature of much capitalistic behavior, conflating the two as quasi synonyms simply implies that capitalism cannot and therefore must not change and get rid of greedy behavior.
Capitalism as a concept does not preclude responsible behavior towards the world.

 

[eroslws]

Thanks to Europe, the iPhone can’t go port less. This, fortunately, ends the rumors and conversation.

 

[User 6502]

Not sure why you think nobody is talking about it for high power devices. It’s already in development for some kitchen appliances and being discussed for EV applications. And wasteful is wasteful, regardless of localized scale. Multiply that “negligible” loss per phone by the number of smartphones in use globally and tell me how negligible that number remains.

An iPhone is less than 0.01% of a household energy bill. You can multiply to all the households of the galaxy, it will still be less than 0.01%, which is negligible. Using the tumble drier one less time in a year will probably compensate a lifetime of charging your iPhone only wirelessly.
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Anything that seems to be negligible is going to be tangible once reaching a critical mass. Assuming a Qi charger charging an iPhone using 8W, 10% is 0.8W. Just 1 million iPhone’s Qi charging waste is 800kW already, which is enough energy that a sizeable power plant will generate. Heck, even 1% loss (which is 0.08W) is 80kW total waste for 1 million iPhone. So, 10% waste is NOT negligible.

800kw is not a sizeable power plant. A single windmill generally produces more power than that. And yeah, a single windmill IS negligible.

 

[Yr Blues]

There will be multiple models just like every year. The highest end model will be wireless only while the other cheaper model iPhones will include lightning. Of course all iPhones (and competing smartphones) will have no ports 3 years from now so this gives customers plenty of transitional time.

This is the reason I buy legacy Apple devices. I'm still rocking my iPhone 5 and iPad mini 2. My 2016 MBP I still need to take in for a recall. They'll probably give me a new laptop.

 

[tritian]

Portless would be the time to finally leave the walled garden. Wireless charging is a gimmick for anyone that uses their phone regularly for work. I still use the device while plugged in a LOT. If I have to put it down to charge that's a significant loss in productivity.