Last week, the European Parliament passed the “universal charger for electronic devices” directive, which will force electronic device manufacturers to offer USB-C connectors for charging. Apple obviously won’t be escaping the rule and therefore will have to adapt until then.
According to a new report from Mark Gurman, the American giant will not wait for the deadline to comply. Indeed, the Bloomberg reporter expects the iPhone 15 to be the first Apple smartphone to drop Lightning connectivity as early as 2023. By then another device should also switch to USB-C: entry-level iPad to be released later this year.
AirPods and Mac accessories will later switch to USB-C
While Apple’s cutting-edge AirPods 2 Pro feature USB-C connectivity, that shouldn’t be the case for models due to launch in 2024. While he expects Apple to kick in as early as 2023, Mark Gurman said: AirPods will be the last Apple devices to switch to the new connection in 2024. Just before the deadline set by the European Union.
Gurman also noted that all Mac accessories such as: Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad will need to switch when new versions are released. He’s planning several major updates for Macs next year, including a new iMac and a Mac Pro, and said: it can probably be assumed that this move coincides with accessory updates. “.
Finally, Gurman believes that Yildirim may remain in place for a while after the end of his legislative term. For example, An iPhone SE refreshed in March 2024 could use a Lightning port, but a later update in 2025 or 2026 will need to use USB-C. It is not yet clear whether Apple will decide to keep the proprietary port to continue selling Lightning cables with its cheapest iPhone for the next few years.
