We’ve known that the iPhone is switching to USB-C for a while now, but there was always a possibility that Apple would stick with Lightning for one more year. Based on the latest leaked images, however, Apple is all-in on USB-C for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models, with USB-C parts for the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, and iPhone 15 Pro Max all shown in a leaked image by X user fix Apple.
With the switch to USB-C, nearly all of Apple’s devices will have adopted the new standard, with only AirPods, Mac accessories, and the iPhone SE remaining aside from older iPhones and the 9th-gen iPad.
Next up: allow side loading!
I might actually consider getting an iPhone.
(it’s crazy you still cannot get a version of Firefox with both adblock and bookmarks sync on ios)
Apple knows that consumers don’t want that. Apple knows everything.
I feel so suffocated by their products!
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Never, Google pixel and machine learning
About damn time
God I waited. I was tempted to go for the 14, but suspected the 15 would have usb c. This will be a tidy upgrade from my 12 Pro.
EU is the real MVP. Hoping that a few more years now and we’ll have iphone with USB C, app sideloading, user replacable battery. I’ve never owned an iphone before but if that happens, I might consider one.
This and we are gonna have replaceable batteries in the future as well. Thanks EU!
If you don’t need access to iMessage or are not part of the iCloud ecosystem (i.e. do most/all of your work on a Mac), it’s still not worth it. I switched ~3-4 years ago for iMessage and the Lidar sensor. The lidar is shit for technical work, or really anything other than the simplest in-phone diversions. If iMessage were available on Android I’d almost certainly swap back. It’s not that the phone is bad, per se, just that there are weird limitations that pop up from time to time that wouldn’t exist with an Android device.
Edit: I was going to jump on the 15 for the USBC, but I’ll probably wait for the hype to die down unless I get a sweetheart upgrade deal from my provider. My airpod case is still lightning, so there’s no economy for me in getting my phone switched over.
If you’re happy using a third party app then you can use iMessage on Android.
Good to know. That’s an interesting app all around.
I moved because of the insular iMessage (including facetime) system my family uses, and have tried several hacks over the years prior to access it on my phone/desktop. During the time we were auditioning apps, there simply wasn’t a more reliable mobile system that worked on iOS with the features we wanted (and, trust me, I tried several).
I don’t really care about imessage or icloud. But apple have a much better track record for providing updates for old iphones. Android is quite enshittified these days. Filled with sponsored unremovable apps, abandonware stock rom, and if you try to use something else like lineage os, it is no longer possible to use banking apps etc. Really all iphone need for me to consider it is sideloading apps which is presumably on its way.
[edit - my first response was combative; I didn’t intend it to be]
Sadly, iOS is filled with sponsored, unremovable apps - the only difference is that they are Apple branded. I lock down my notifications pretty hard, and I generally don’t subscribe to streaming media. I get regular, invasive pop-ups to join Apple Music and Apple TV+. You can’t turn those off, you can’t uninstall them. Yes, they keep devices updated for longer, but once you fall out of that period almost none of the apps will work anymore and you can’t get versions that will work with your OS revision until you’re left with a brick (it’s happened on multiple iPads for me). It may be the lesser evil, but it’s still annoying at times.
Damn that’s a bummer. So the strategy of all the tech corporations now is to annoy us into paying yet another subscription.
Hm. For some reason, I felt like Apple was going to be petty enough to only make phones with USB-C ports exclusively for EU territories and leave the rest of the world with proprietary ports. Good for them for not doing that I guess.
It’s simply cheaper for them not to have two different devices.
They kinda already do different physical models for different regions. NA has no SIM card slot, China requires 2, rest of the world gets 1.
With that being said, charging ports might be a different beast.
That’s easy though because they just swap out a daughter board but with apples design the charge port is soldered directly onto the main board so they have to change that and it’s probably easy to not do that.
Very few phones actually have daughter boards for the charging port. Pretty much the only ones that are phones aimed at repairability.
If that were the cheaper thing to do I have no doubt they would’ve done it. Personally, I figured they were more likely go portless/wireless charging before being forced to USB-C but I guess that’s not entirely feasible yet.
Hot damn! Thank you, EU. Maybe we’ll finally be able to climb out of connector hell.
The beauty is that it will start extending to devices like notebooks. So goodbye those stupid barrel plugs most still use that all vary in size for whatever goddam reason.
Mice too. Why no one makes usbc dongles is just insane to me. Even if it was an extra $10 give us the option.
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I’m already out of the connector hell for several years by buying only devices with USB-C.
The iPhone doesn’t have USB-C, I don’t even consider buying one.
My new connector hell is trying to find a micro usb cable to charge that one device I still have that uses it.
Props for MacWorld’s editors for digging out the OG Blue Pixel for this device shot†
†(back when they originally took it)
Watch them roll with the most barebones feature set possible just so they can point and say, “see, lightning was obviously better!”
There’s no point for Apple to self sabotage like that. Why make your new shiny $1500 phone look bad just to praise a discontinued products? Switching back to Lightning is impossible. Better to just move on with it and because it’s Apple, they will more likely to pull some bullshit like “Reinventing USB-C” or “The Best USB-C in the world”.
Apple would rather just ditch all physical ports and move to 100% wireless than praising Lightning over USB-C.
Remember that this is Apple, the company which has already been crippling its phones with lightning for the past decade(?). Although you’re probably right about them just going with whatever and then marketing the crap out of it.
As for ditching all physical ports, I was honestly thinking that’d probably be the road they’d go just to spite the EU. Oh well, I guess there’s always next gen?
Crippling? Lightning is way easier to use than usb c and USB C literally didn’t even exist a decade ago, no clue what you’re on about. Yeah USB C is really nice, but lightning doesn’t get junk in the ports and in general is a much sturdier connector and for the time was a much better option than all the other ports. I didn’t even use apple at the time and it was clearly superior to things like usb superspeed and all the other proprietary junk that other manufacturers had.
They released lightning about 3 years before the first USB-C phones, so they could have worked with the standard, delay the connector switch a bit, and use USB-C. They could even have released the first USB-C phone if they’re so keen on being “innovative”.
That would have save their users from 10 years of incompatible connectors.
But Apple never cared about standards, on the contrary they choose lock-in over standards whenever they can.
I really cannot tell if you’re joking or not…
They released lightning about 3 years before the first USB-C phones
3 and a half years before the first usb c phones showed up in china. It was 4 years until it showed up anywhere else.
so they could have worked with the standard,
They literally did work together to create the standard.
delay the connector switch a bit,
You seriously have to be joking. Stop working on getting rid of their shit 30 pin connector that everyone had been complaining about for literally a decade? Why in the world would they stop development for something that was never guaranteed to actually make it out of a standards body? Standards don’t just pop up at a set time. They had no clue USB Type-C would succeed or if it did, how long it would take. Not only that, but it’s not like they just started developing lightning in 2012. They had to have been developing it for several years, along with the phones to go with it. This is honestly the most ridiculous suggestion I think I’ve seen in this thread.
They could even have released the first USB-C phone if they’re so keen on being “innovative”.
… they were innovative. They released the first symmetrical connector for a phone, ~4 years before anyone else. Theirs was (and still is) thinner and more robust than other phone connectors. You’re literally just trying to rewrite history.
That would have save their users from 10 years of incompatible connectors.
dude… like… are you seriously joking? why in the world do you think this?
But Apple never cared about standards, on the contrary they choose lock-in over standards whenever they can.
… this is where you clearly reveal that you are ignorant on this topic. Apple (and every tech giant) collaborates on standards all the time. Please. seriously. Go look at any standard and you will find apple, google, facebook, etc. on the standards body.
You might go ‘oh iMessage’. Well apple did try to create a standard for iMessage. Carriers didn’t want it
Just because you believe all the apple hate doesn’t mean it’s true. Just like believing that Google sells your data doesn’t mean it’s true. Sometimes you have to research stuff yourself.
lightning doesn’t get junk in the ports
How the heck are you getting gunk in your USB C ports? 🤨
for the time
Indeed, it was probably fine ten years ago. But, as Mac Address (among many others) rightly pointed out, transferring gigabytes of HD video over a shoddy USB 2.0 line is a less-than-ideal experience.
way easier to use than usb c
How?
How the heck are you getting gunk in your USB C ports? 🤨
How are you not getting lint and dust in your USB C ports? Not really a problem with computers due to the cleaner usage environment but I have to clean out the port on my phone every few months or the cable will start losing connection at the slightest bump.
I wouldn’t expect Lightning is immune from this either but it likely is less of an issue there due to having less narrow gaps for lint to get caught in the port.
I don’t know, but given the apparent volume of people having this issue I’m starting to think I might just have a special talent. Maybe my case is getting in the way?
Edit: okay I actually went and shined a light in my Pixel 7 Pro’s port. It has the tiniest bit of dust build-up but nothing that’s prevented my charger from working properly. Unfortunately, my speaker grills have not been so lucky.
I’ve had my phone for near 4 years now and have never once had to clean out the charging port or the headphone jack for that matter. What are you doing to have that issue?
Just carrying it in my pocket all day, nothing unusual. I might get a bit more lint forming or dust falling into my pocket than some people since I have a fairly active job but that applies to many others too. It’s not just a USB-C thing either as I found micro USB to similarly build up stuff inside the port. Headphone jacks I never had a problem with when I had a phone or mp3 player with one, I guess they’re less prone to this issue.
Edit: Never had issues with lint build up in the old Nokia charger port either, micro USB was the first port I really noticed it happening with.
How the heck are you getting gunk in your USB C ports? 🤨
I’m not, but other commenters in this thread are. And with the internal pin in the female connector you have a much higher risk of damage, also the connector is larger. Also have you never had lint get into a phone connector in your pocket? That was a huge issue for years with my Android phones. I had it fuck up my Dell streak port all the time.
I have an iPhone and have never had anything get stuck in the port, unlike all the Android stuff I’ve owned. But like I said, other commenters in here are complaining about things getting stuck in their USB C ports.
Indeed, it was probably fine ten years ago. But, as Mac Address (among many others) rightly pointed out, transferring gigabytes of HD video over a shoddy USB 2.0 line is a less-than-ideal experience.
Huh? Why in the world would you be doing that? And shoddy? Haha dude, usb 2 ran the world fine fora decade and continues to work fine today. Lightning supports up to USB 3 anyway, but USB C came out and they didn’t bother expanding their cable selection.
How?
No need to worry about whether the cable you’re using supports PD, bidirectionality, hdmi, etc. All lightning cables are the same. Power and data. I literally have a device to plug usb c cables into to verify what they support. Even Android news sites agree it’s a mess.
I’ve soldered up USB C cables. They’re not “it just works” like lightning is. I don’t even use lightning anymore since I wireless charge everything but apple not putting usb c on their phones is completely inconsequential and really not the massive deal everyone thinks it is.
Also have you never had lint get into a phone connector in your pocket?
No.
Huh? Why in the world would you be doing that? And shoddy? Haha dude, usb 2 ran the world fine fora decade and continues to work fine today. Lightning supports up to USB 3 anyway, but USB C came out and they didn’t bother expanding their cable selection.
Because some people actually use their iPhone to record videos, since the iPhone has a pretty damn good video camera. I’ll just link this excerpt from Mac Address that I hinted at before.
No need to worry about whether the cable you’re using supports PD, bidirectionality, hdmi, etc. All lightning cables are the same. Power and data.
USB C is a mess, sure. But if your solution to that is to try and justify sticking with an old, proprietary standard that supports only a fraction of the features of the competitor, then I guess it’s your money to burn.
USB C is a mess, sure. But if your solution to that is to try and justify sticking with an old, proprietary standard that supports only a fraction of the features of the competitor, then I guess it’s your money to burn.
I most definitely am not doing that. Lightning was good for the time, and the benefits of USB C now are overwhelming (compared to a few years ago). What I am talking about is the blatant whitewashing of the past. USB C didn’t exist, and the lightning cable was amazing for what it replaced. Absolutely astounding honestly. And the connector still is. But time moves on. But lots of people love to hate on Apple and just completely ignore history.
Do you not have pocket lint build up in your phone’s ports over time?
No.
Also, I feel like not enough people appreciate just how much shit Apple got for moving everything from the 30 pin to Lightning. There was a barrage of comments across the message boards from people bitching about how they’d have to replace their iPod docks and all the cables they’d amassed. There was no way Apple would have gone through that again lightly to switch to a new standard that wasn’t mature.
I completely agree. It was terrible how bad all the connectors were (including that fucking 30 pin, my god I hated that fucking thing) before lightning. This includes micro and mini USB.
I quite like the 30 pin, though that may be because I coveted iPods at the time but couldn’t afford one. I had a couple of Sony hard disc Walkman, which seemed to have a different connector every damn time, meaning you couldn’t buy one dock like you could with an iPod. On top of that, it was a solid connection that clicked nicely every time. But yeah, ya boy was wiiiiiide. I have a dozen of them knocking about now, as my little collection of iPods grows…
Also, it’s hilarious that Samsung straight up copied the 30 pin for their original Tab, but flipped the pin position so the cables weren’t interchangeable.
iPad Pro (2020 model onwards if I recall correctly) already uses USB type C already so it shouldn’t be any different.
I could charge my android phone with it for example and in couple occasions I have done so.
Honestly, the fact that apple used usb-c on it’s “pro” iPads but not the regular iPad is all the proof we need that even apple thinks usb-c is better
It’s likely more to do with the iPad Pro architecture being essentially the same as a MacBooks. Makes it easier to produce multiple devices based on the same components. But they kept Lightning on the cheaper devices because the people using them are less likely to care how they (very infrequently) plug stuff in.
Not gonna happen.
They are a perfectionist company.
You’re probably right, but imagine the meme potential 🥺
side-eyes the 10th gen iPad with its 1st gen Pencil and usb-c > lightning adapter…
Been waiting for this for like 4 years now.
We changed to USB-C ports because
the EU forced uswe have courage!
I’ll start saving up then. Still on the XS max but this is finally worth the upgrade.
I wish I could get a 15 mini with usbc. That’s all I want.
15 mini pro
This is all I want
Not sure how a leaked photo can ‘confirm’ anything but good news regardless
Apple is honestly garbage. This would have been news 5 years ago. Now it’s just sad.
This is not sad. Progress is progress.
Good on EU to force their hand, we should be cheering for regulatory agencies making life better for consumers.
It’s depressing that they were forced into it rather than realising for themselves that it’s bad for their own consumers to continue to have to use their crappy proprietary port. Of course they don’t care they make money out of lightning and that’s all that matters.
It’s sad that it took so long
The EU rocks, but it is sad apple had to be forced to do this instead of choosing to not be dicks
I like apple 👍
I don’t. But their hardware is top notch. Fuck Apple. I like my Google Pixel. But fuck Google too.
Not saying it’s the right thing to do but sticking to lightning was more profitable to them due to licencing fees. Switching to usbc means they’re losing money
This is exactly why they didn’t do it before, despite it being the right move to make. But they lied and said lightning is a better tech
Their 10 years of no charger port change promise hadn’t yet expired 5 years ago. So it sure would’ve been news if they’d broken it. In fact it ran out a year ago, so I guess they went 11 years.
Wait until you hear the same Apple fans who kept repeating the iPhone is better because of the lightning port suddenly praise Apple’s genius to switch to USB-C.
As an iPhone user since the 3GS, I couldn’t really give a shit which port my phone has, because I almost never actually use it. Data transfer is usually via iCloud or Airdrop, and charging is almost always on my MagSafe stand.
That said, it’ll be nice for my next phone to be able to use the same USB-C adapters that I have for my MacBook for those odd occasions they’re needed.
I can’t wait to see tweets from people claiming that Apple invented the USB-C port.
Ya know what’s ironic actually? They were one of the companies that helped create that standard. They just couldn’t be bothered to use it as long as they could make a buck filling up landfills with their proprietary bullshit.
The lightning port is literally the USB-C standard but with a bunch of features removed, a lower max voltage rate, and it’s less safe. It’s not going to blow up on you, but it is less safe then usb-c.
Yep. That’s what they always do. I cannot wait for Tim Cook to be giddy about it on stage lol
Was that so hard?
cries in proprietary
nobody understood this
I’m pretty sure accessory manufacturers have to pay Apple a fee for each device they sell. Apple are more concerned about making money than making life easier for the consumer.
fucking hell are we really at number 15? Are they just going to keep going with this naming scheme until the iPhone 1523?
Samsung went straight from S10 to S20.
that makes a lot more sense, it looks better and you get the well-proven benefit of bigger numbers.
Eventually you get to S3000 and that’s when you know you’ve made it
I think samsung is going with the year as the name now. They skipped to s20, but then have going with s21 s22 s23 etc.
Samsung made it so the model number would match the year it was released.
Having worked internally to Samsung at that time, I can confidently say, no, it isn’t. They did it so that their number wouldn’t be behind apples anymore.
I’m not buying another Samsung until it’s over 9000.
Samsung Galaxy S I9000 is released in 2010. Or the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005 in 2013.
Firefox 114: “First time?”
extra annoying because in software we have semantic versioning which is objectively better for all purposes other than marketing.
Semantic versioning isn’t useful for all kinds of software. Plenty intentionally choose to not use it. Look at the Linux kernel, for example.
A few more than that if you count the S versions.
You simply cant win. People make fun of Xbox fand Windows for having non sequential names, and iPhone gets berated for having a naming scheme that’s sensical, easy to follow and date
Yup, out of all the things I hate about Apple, their iPhone’s naming scheme is something I wish other brands would follow (including Apple with thier other devices).
Apple iPad on the other hand, is a completely mess.
To OP, what’s wrong with sequential names? I look at an iphone and i know exactly when they were released and their relative performance to other iphone models. Why is it a bad thing?
Remember the New iPad, or the 3rd gen iPad as literally everyone called it?
Apple did try to simplify in the same way they did with Macs, but then they fragmented the iPad line so much that it was difficult to keep up, so now you have “12.9” 2022 iPad Pro" as opposed to “5th gen iPad Air”.
Still, it’s better than the abominations that Sony come out with. Looking at you, WH-1000XM4 headphones, or Bravia KD55X75WL (2023).
They are halfway to iPhone XXX
