The EU wants everyone to go to USB Type C by 2024, but Apple is putting that move off for at least another year.
USB Type C may well be on the road to becoming a standard adopted by all, but there is at least one obvious hold out. You don’t have to do too much guessing to work it out, and really need only look to the one and only maker of the iPhone.
While Apple makes laptops and tablets that use the Type C USB port for charging, its phones and accessories are still powered by the Lightning port, and it appears it could stay that way for one more year.
We genuinely expected this would be the year Apple would end its use of the Lightning port, given this year marks the 10th anniversary of the introduction of Lightning, but the EU announcement only a few months ago may actually be too close for Apple to rip the Lightning port out and replace it with the standard of Type C USB.
It may make more sense for next year — 2023 — to see the departure of Lightning from its phones, and Apple could even note it at a keynote of sorts, telling the world that after ten years, wired ports have moved on and caught up to the idea of what Lightning delivered: a fast and reversible port that consumers understood.
So while this year’s iPhone 14 and more premium iPhone 14 Pro line are still rocking the Lightning port, it may well be the last time we see that. By 2024, Apple will need to move on if it wants to sell phones in Europe, and given how big of a market that is, we suspect that means the iPhone 15 will see a change in ports arise.
