Apple created some waves last year when they removed nearly every legacy port on their MacBook Pro opting for all USB-C ports. Now the Wall Street Journal is reporting Apple may be ditching the Lightning connector on their next iPhone. The Lightning connector will likely be replaced by, you guessed it, USB-C which will make one less adapter needed for plugging it into a MacBook Pro. As The Verge says in their report, it isn’t completely clear what the Wall Street Journal is saying but it seems to point to the deletion of that Lightning connector.
I think most of us who follow tech can agree that USB-C is going to be the next standard as it offers broader functionality over Lightning and Micro-USB. This will mark a first for Apple, should this rumor be true, as they have traditionally used proprietary connections on their iOS devices. This also means any Lightning headphones or accessories you may have purchased will not work on the new 2017 iPhone. The Verge also suggests that it may not be the actual Lightning side that will change but the USB-A side that will be changed.
It’s also possible that the WSJ report means that USB-C will be incorporated not into the phone itself, but into its power adapters. That would mean replacing the USB-A plug on the end of the iPhone power cable with USB-C, like Apple has done with the adapters that ship with new MacBooks. This would make sense, allowing users who buy the new iPhone to charge it from their new MacBook using the cable that comes in the box. Apple’s new Ultra Accessory Connector (UAC) also makes it unlikely that the company will be dropping its Lightning port from the next iPhone.
It’s all pretty muddy at this point and nothing should be taken too seriously. We’re hoping for a complete change to USB-C ourselves but Apple is always unpredictable when it comes to ports.
What do you think of this possible change from Apple? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
[button link=”http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/28/14760400/iphone-8-2017-rumors-usb-c-lightning” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: The Verge[/button]
