USB-C iPhone: The latest news

A USB-C iPhone might once have seemed impossible, but the latest rumors suggest it’s actually coming sooner than you might think. Amid regulatory backlash and Lightning connector restrictions, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro are expected to transition to USB-C this fall. Below are the latest details on what we know so far.

Regulatory pressure forces Apple to act

There are a number of reasons why Apple seems to have changed its stance on releasing a USB-C iPhone. One thing that’s hard to overlook, however, is the looming legislation around the world.

After several years of back and forth, the European Union has officially agreed on a “common charging port” standard. From 2024, all smartphones sold in the 27 countries of the EU must use USB-C for charging. This includes the iPhone and even peripheral accessories like AirPods.

Apple has resisted laws that would make a USB-C iPhone mandatory. The company argues that such laws stifle innovation and actually lead to more environmental waste.

After the EU agreed on its legislation, lawmakers in the United States expressed their support. Many urged the US to enact something similar. Senator Elizabeth Warren reiterated that call in a post TwitterSaying:

Consumers shouldn’t have to constantly buy new chargers for different devices. With uniform standards, we create a remedy – for less effort, less trouble and less waste.

In early October, legislation was formally adopted in the EU after a full vote by the European Parliament. The law was passed with an overwhelming majority, with 602 votes in favour, 13 against and 8 abstentions. By law, there are exceptions for products that are too small to offer a USB-C port.

Finally, to complete the process, the USB-C law was formally adopted and came into effect on December 27, 2022. According to the law, companies have until December 28, 2024 to fulfill the mandate with new intelligent launches.

This could technically give Apple up to 2025 to officially comply with USB-C regulations, but it’s expected to happen sooner.

Will the iPhone 15 use USB-C?

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo first predicted in 2019 that Apple would release a portless iPhone as early as 2021, but that hasn’t come true. It’s easy to see why — wireless technologies just aren’t reliable or powerful enough to fully replace a connector like Lightning or USB-C. Loading speeds aren’t that fast, data transfer is slow and unreliable, and consumer adoption isn’t there yet.

A portless iPhone is still in the works and being tested internally at Apple, but we don’t expect it to be revealed to the public this year or next.

The Lightning Connector is also slowly showing its age. When it was first introduced with the iPhone 5 in 2012, Apple’s Phil Schiller touted that it would be “the modern connector for the next decade”. A decade has passed since that announcement, and it’s clear that Lightning is falling behind USB-C in things like charging speeds and data transfer speeds.

That leads us to where we are today. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted last May that the iPhone 15, which launches this year, will feature a USB-C port for charging and data transfer. This report was eventually confirmed by Bloombergwhich also said that next year the iPhone 15 might move to a USB-C connector.

In an interview, Greg Joswiak, Apple’s head of marketing, even went so far as to say that Apple will have no choice but to comply with EU legislation, effectively confirming that iPhone with USB-C will come sooner rather than later comes.

Finally, 9to5Mac has exclusively received CAD files of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, confirming that the devices have a USB-C connector instead of Lightning. This has also been confirmed by other iPhone 15 images leaked on Twitter.

Interestingly, a report states that Apple is looking at ways it could still retain some level of control over the iPhone’s accessories ecosystem. This report suggested that the iPhone 15’s USB-C port could have certain features that are limited to Apple-certified cables. However, this has not been confirmed by any other source.

An iPhone with USB-C will surely make many consumers happy, especially those who already own an iPad or a Mac that also uses USB-C. However, given the sheer number of iPhone users, Apple will undoubtedly receive criticism for changing the charging port of the iPhone – even if a switch to USB-C is ultimately the right decision and long overdue.

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