For the past few years, a stubborn rumor has circulated ahead of the release of the newest iPhone: that this will be the one without a Lightning port. Exact details vary, sometimes there are whispers of a USB-C port, other times of a transition to no ports at all. So far, it’s never come to pass. Will the iPhone 14 be the model that finally makes Lightning obsolete?
It’s still too early to tell for sure. But either way, it’s only a matter of time. Here’s why.
Apple has been laying the groundwork for years…
If you’re looking for hints that Apple is preparing to abandon the Lightning port, you will find no shortage of them. They come in two flavors.
The first is the steady advance of the USB-C port. When the iPad Pro was first launched in 2015, it unsurprisingly launched with a Lightning port, just like its contemporaries the iPad Air (Gen 2) and iPad Mini 4. In 2018, however, the 3rd generation iPad Pro came with a snazzy USB-C port. In 2020, the iPad Air lost its Lightning for a USB-C port as well. And just a few months ago, the iPad Mini’s Lightning port also disappeared in a redesign.
Apple’s MacBooks, meanwhile, have never sported the port, sticking to a 3.5mm jack for audio transitioned its iPhone EarPods to Lightning for the iPhone. As a result of this slow push, the number of devices which sport a Lightning port is smaller than ever, essentially relegated to the iPhone, AirPod cases, and the AirPods Max.
Apple
The second indicator, is the growing support for wireless charging. In 2020, Apple announced its wireless MagSafe chargers for the iPhone (distinct from its old MagSafe chargers for the MacBook, and also its new MagSafe chargers for the MacBook). While official “MagSafe” certification confers some benefits, like a higher rate of charge for supported Apple devices, MagSafe chargers are built on the widespread “Qi” charging standard — which is, essentially, the USB-C of wireless charging.
With these two trends taken together, you can start to see a revealing pattern: almost every Lightning Port device Apple has made since 2020 supports wireless charging as well. To be sure, there are some outliers: the oddball AirPods Max (which also don’t support Apple Music’s Lossless tier), the old-design budget-grade iPad, and some desktop accessories. But increasingly, the lion’s share of Apple’s products could charge just fine if Lightning were to magically disappear.
And it very well may.
And the European Union is forcing Apple’s hand.
Whatever Apple’s ideal timeframe to phase out the Lightning port may have been, it’s getting a big push to hurry up. In September, the European Commission unveiled plans to standardize charging ports for gadgets available for sale in the European Union by compelling manufacturers to include a USB-C port. It’s a move intended to limit e-waste, and generally promote standardization.
With today’s proposal for a revised Radio Equipment Directive, the charging port and fast charging technology will be harmonised: USB-C will become the standard port for all smartphones, tablets, cameras, headphones, portable speakers and handheld videogame consoles. In addition, the Commission proposes to unbundle the sale of chargers from the sale of electronic devices. This will improve consumers’ convenience and reduce the environmental footprint associated with the production and disposal of chargers, thereby supporting the green and digital transitions.
The proposal has yet to be voted through by the European Parliament the concept of forcing a universal charger has proven popular with the body in the past. If passed, the requirement of a USB-C port would be binding within 24 months and leave Apple with several doubtlessly unappealing options on the port front, like: changing the iPhone to USB-C entirely, making a USB-C iPhone for sale in Europe exclusively, making an iPhone with both a Lightning port and a USB-C port.
Apple
Fortunately for Apple, its endeavors on the wireless charging front offer it a way out. The Commission notes that this legislation only applies to devices that have ports at all, and a Commission spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that a portless iPhone would be exempt from requirements for a USB-C port. Ditching the port altogether, then, would save Apple the indignity and the hassle of transitioning to the port it’s pointedly avoided for so long.
Will the iPhone 14 have a Lightning port?
So what about the iPhone 14, the next Apple flagship due for release at the end of 2022? Despite the fact that its announcement is almost a full year away, rumors are already in the air. This early on, the veracity of leaks and predictions can be hard to gauge, but there are a few things we can surmise with pretty reasonable certainty.
If the iPhone 14 has a port, it will be Lightning. The odds that Apple would decide to swap out its Lighting port for USB are infinitesimally small, though rumors that suggest this change are persistent virtually every year. Yes, it would be possible to put a USB-C port on an iPhone — it just has virtually no upside for Apple.
A portless iPhone is almost certainly coming, but probably not next year. While a port-free iPhone seems all but inevitable given the various factors at play, from Apple’s previous gameness to drop physical ports in favor of wireless protocols, to everything the EU is up to. But for now, the bulk of iPhone 14 rumors point to a redesign that’s focused on the screen. Leaks and predictions indicate the next iPhone will remove the “notch” in favor of a “hole punch” design, and could integrate under-the-screen Face ID, or perhaps even bring back Touch ID. Specifics about an imminent portless iPhone, however, have yet to turn up.
But, of course, it’s gotta be coming. The only question is when.
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