With the iPhone 14 launch just a few months away, we’re already starting to get a picture of what Apple is planning for next year’s iPhone, and it could bring the biggest change to Apple’s handset since the iPhone 5.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is planning to switch from Lightning to USB-C when it launches the 2023 iPhone, the first change to the connector in more than 10 years. Kuo notes that the move to USB-C “could improve iPhone’s transfer and charging speed in hardware designs, but the final spec details still depend on iOS support.” It was previously rumored that the iPhone 14 Pro would support USB 3 speeds (5Gbps), which would be faster than the current port (480Mbps) but still slower than the iPad Pro and Air (10Gbps).
Kuo also says Apple is planning to transition its accessories away from Lightning, including the Magic Mouse, Keyboard, and Trackpad, the AirPods case, and the AirPods Max. Apple is facing pressure from the European Union to switch all of its devices to USB-C. That ruling is expected to be finalized later this year.
Apple introduced Lightning to replace the 30-pin connector when it launched the iPhone 5 and iPad 4 but has since switched to USB-C on most iPad models. The only devices (not including accessories) that still have a Lightning connector are the 10.2-inch iPad and the iPhone.
In addition to switching to USB-C, Apple is also expected to remove the notch from all iPhone models in 2023. The iPhone 14 Pro will reportedly adopt a so-called hole+pill display design for the screen, and the latest rumors say Apple will bring it to the entire iPhone 15 line next year.
So if you like the notch and Lightning, you may need to buy an iPhone 14. It could very well be the last of its kind.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor
Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.