Apple to Stick With Lightning Over USB-C for 'iPhone 12' Before Going Port-Less Next Year

[AshRiver]

https://www.macrumors.com/2020/05/26/leaker-iphone-12-keeps-lightning-portless-2021/

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Apple will use a Lightning port instead of USB-C in the upcoming "iPhone 12," but it will be the last major series of Apple's flagship phones to do so, with models set to combine wireless charging and a port-less Smart Connector system for data transfer and syncing in the iPhone "13 series" next year.

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The above claim comes from occasional Apple leaker and Twitter user "Fudge" (@choco_bit), who last month shared alleged leaked ‌iPhone 12‌ images showing a revised rear camera array with LiDAR scanner, a smaller front notch, and Home screen widgets.

Fudge claims that Apple has tested ‌iPhone‌ prototypes with USB-C ports, but that these models "won't be making it to production." Instead, Apple will stick with Lightning for one more year before replacing the port with a ‌Smart Connector‌.

 

Shame the USB-c prototype ‌iPhone 12‌'s arent making it to production. 1 more year of lightning Oh well, at least smart connector on 13 series — Fudge (@choco_bit) May 25, 2020

Claims of port-less future iPhones aren't new. Apple designers are said to ultimately be aiming to remove most of the external ports and buttons on the ‌iPhone‌ for a clean, streamlined device with fewer points of potential hardware failure.

 

Indeed, if wireless charging technology improves in the interim, Apple could potentially get rid of wired charging all together – and rumors do indicate Apple will release an ‌iPhone‌ without a Lightning port in 2021.

 

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According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the highest-end ‌iPhone‌ model coming in 2021 will offer a "completely wireless experience." Charging would, presumably, be done all wirelessly through charging accessories, Qi-based or otherwise. (Whether the 2021 ‌iPhone‌ would be Apple's so-called "‌iPhone‌ 13" series or an "S"-style revision of this year's upcoming "‌iPhone 12‌" is unknown.)

The addition of a ‌Smart Connector‌, however, is a separate rumor. The use of a ‌Smart Connector‌ could conceivably complete the transition to a totally wireless system for ‌iPhone‌, with everyday charging and data transfer occurring over induction and wireless, and the ‌Smart Connector‌ providing a way to attach accessories and cover restore and recovery needs via special adapters.

 

for clarification, smart connector thing on 13 series wont be the intended way to charge. Youll be expected to go wireless charging mainly. D6x series (iphone 13 series) hasnt really begun proper development yet so iphone magsafe more of a plan atm. Portless is coming either way — Fudge (@choco_bit) May 26, 2020

Apple introduced the ‌Smart Connector‌ with the 2015 iPad Pro and updated it for the 2018 redesign. It lies flush with the bezel and has three pins providing power, data, and grounding. It's not impermeable though, which is something that Apple would need to work on to maintain its ‌iPhone‌ water resistance rating.

 

All of this could of course be irrelevant in the event that Apple surprises everyone and launches an ‌iPhone‌ with USB-C this year, suggesting that's where its future lies for now. Given the course and aim of Apple's ‌iPhone‌ development, that seems unlikely, but we won't know for sure until September or October, when Apple is expected to launch its latest flagship lineup.

Rumors have suggested Apple will complete its transition to an all-OLED ‌iPhone‌ lineup in 2020 with one new 5.4-inch device, two 6.1-inch models, and one 6.7-inch handset. The 6.7-inch ‌‌iPhone‌‌ and one 6.1-inch model are thought to be higher-end OLED devices with triple-lens cameras, while the 5.4 and 6.1-inch models will be lower-end iPhones with dual-lens cameras and a more affordable price tag.

Uh oh. I smell another dongle cable coming or not! Apple is going to make a small fortune out of this next dongle for those don't like wireless charging if Apple can pull it. Forcing people to use wireless headset when Apple remove 3.5mm headphone jack is enough, but this time forcing wireless charging? 

[Bombastinator]

This will go poorly I suspect.  There are advantages and disadvantages to wireless charging, but this is also true of cables.  One of the disadvantages of wireless anything is everything costs 5 times as much and is more of a PITA to use. If Apple pushes this one too far people may quit the platform.  I could see them trying this with just one model, but forcing it on everyone seems like a potentially very bad idea.  The could lose customers who won’t come back.

[hishnash]

I don't think it will be 100% wireless charging i think (like the iPadPro  `smart connector`) they will have a solution for contact based charging. They can remove the port this way and move to 2 or 3 large contacts that line up with the charger using magnets like the iPadPro. The reason i think they will go this way is i dont think they will include a wireless charger in the box, buildign a good one is not cheap.

[DrMacintosh]

I’ve always known that Apple would not switch away from lighting. It makes no practical sense to do so. Lighting came first, lighting is smaller and does not lose its grip over time, and changing the port would disrupt the accessories market. 
 

As for charging, wireless becoming the primary means of charging will likely take longer than is being predicted here. 
 

Apple was overly ambitious when it came to developing AirPower and the idea had to be scrapped post being announced to the public. Being equally ambitious by moving towards a completely wireless charging method is likely to not make it out of testing.
 

Fast charging from 0 to 50% in 30min is not going to be possible via wireless means in a way that does not damage the battery. If Apple does want to do this, iPhones are going to require frequent battery replacements or have extremely slow charging, making the device unusable for today’s power users. 

[Bombastinator]

2 minutes ago, hishnash said:

I don't think it will be 100% wireless charging i think (like the iPadPro  `smart connector`) they will have a solution for contact based charging. They can remove the port this way and move to 2 or 3 large contacts that line up with the charger using magnets like the iPadPro. The reason i think they will go this way is i dont think they will include a wireless charger in the box, buildign a good one is not cheap.

Building an ok one is very cheap though.  It’s fast charging that is the bugbear.  Slow charging is easy.  You may have a point about external contacts.  Kind of a cheap trick really.  “External contacts” is really a port.

[Bombastinator]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I’ve always known that Apple would not switch away from lighting. It makes no practical sense to do so. Lighting came first, lighting is smaller and does not lose its grip over time, and changing the port would disrupt the accessories market. 
 

As for charging, wireless becoming the primary means of charging will likely take longer than is being predicted here. 
 

Apple was overly ambitious when it came to developing AirPower and the idea had to be scrapped post being announced to the public. Being equally ambitious by moving towards a completely wireless charging method is likely to not make it out of testing.
 

Fast charging from 0 to 50% in 30min is not going to be possible via wireless means in a way that does not damage the battery. If Apple does want to do this, iPhones are going to require frequent battery replacements or have extremely slow charging, making the device unusable for today’s power users. 

Yup.  UsbC is basically backwards not as good lightning.

[Zodiark1593]

I would just like a proper display output...

 

And not the lousy, latency-laded adapter that simply takes an h.264 stream from the phone either. 

[hishnash]

4 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Building an ok one is very cheap though.  It’s fast charging that is the bugbear.  Slow charging is easy. 

Yer somehow due to the risks (if it is broken you start a fire) i dont think apple will want to ship a `cheap` charger. They ship so many phones that even a 0.001% is more devices than when Note7 had there battery issues.

 

4 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Kind of a cheap trick really.  “External contacts” is really a port.

Yep it is, but as long as you dont need large amounts of data throughput you realy dont need all the pins in a USB-c or lighing port. for Power 2 or 3 pins is enough, make them flush inline with the phone... i expect hese would be on the side somehow (since otherwise you would not be able to put your phone flat). 

The flat inline contact points have a big advantage if you want to do things like battery caess, at the moment these need to be bulky at the bottem since they effectivly operate like a condom over you lighing port. Even if apple keep the lighing port (or go to USB-C) i could see them adpoting the same 3 contact points that the iPadPro has on the phones just for this function.

[foldingNoob]

I'm ok with this. This is fine.

Spoiler

Ever since the foxcon suicide incident I have never, and do not plan on ever, buying an iphone.

 

 

 

 

 

[ARikozuM]

I can't be the only one that uses magnetic tips for every device I own. Can we please just get MagSafe? It would be so much more convenient. 

 

Edit: Can anyone confirm if this is only on the top-end of the lineup or throughout? 

[kewtz]

10 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

This will go poorly I suspect.  There are advantages and disadvantages to wireless charging, but this is also true of cables.  One of the disadvantages of wireless anything is everything costs 5 times as much and is more of a PITA to use. If Apple pushes this one too far people may quit the platform.  I could see them trying this with just one model, but forcing it on everyone seems like a potentially very bad idea.  The could lose customers who won’t come back.

 

Maybe I shouldn't - because R&D is a thing, but I get concerned about the application of portless when I'm not at a desk.

Ok, at my desk I have a lightning cable and a 5w wireless charger that gets used occasionally. But what about planes, trains and automobiles?

 

Mobile phone mounts use the sides of the phone to nestle it in, and I plug the phone in on long trips. Do I need to replace my pro-clip setup (not cheap) just to accommodate for a new magnetic charger on the side? What are the ergonomics when watching a movie on your phone while on a plane? These are the real questions.

[foldingNoob]

18 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I can't be the only one that uses magnetic tips for every device I own. Can we please just get MagSafe? It would be so much more convenient. 

I saw those ages ago and forgot about them. What is a good brand? Also what should I look out for?

[ARikozuM]

2 minutes ago, foldingNoob said:

I saw those ages ago and forgot about them. What is a good brand?

I've been using Smart&Cool for about 3 years now. The only issue I've had is that iron filings from the workshop can trap itself in the wire and it's a bitch to clean. Aside from that it does data as well. The iPad Pro does require its own cable, but that's a non-issue for me since the tablet is only ever plugged in at my desk. 

[vetali]

25 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I can't be the only one that uses magnetic tips for every device I own. Can we please just get MagSafe? It would be so much more convenient. 

 

Edit: Can anyone confirm if this is only on the top-end of the lineup or throughout? 

There was rumors a few months ago that the port-less iphone would include a smart connector port + a smart connector charger in the box. It would function a lot like magsafe.

 

When I first went to iphone, a big driving factor was the lightning connector introduced with the iphone 5. Micro USB was terrible. I would like to see the iphones adopt USBC but I had a good feeling they never would. The royalties they collect on lightning accessories wouldn't be possible with USBC.

[captain_to_fire]

52 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I can't be the only one that uses magnetic tips for every device I own. Can we please just get MagSafe? It would be so much more convenient. 

 

Edit: Can anyone confirm if this is only on the top-end of the lineup or throughout? 

Looks like MagSafe ain't coming back 

Too bad I wasn’t able to buy magnetic tips before the quarantine 

[Dabombinable]

56 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I can't be the only one that uses magnetic tips for every device I own. Can we please just get MagSafe? It would be so much more convenient. 

 

Edit: Can anyone confirm if this is only on the top-end of the lineup or throughout? 

Then Apple would be changing the connector every generation needlessly...(magsafe is the only reason I actually liked the macbooks when I was in school - other than my laptop being ancient by comparison).

[StDragon]

100% sealed up and waterproof? Well, that might be the selling point. But it's also to limit the resell-ability once the battery reached its end of life. All encased in an epoxy resin perhaps? You don't fix - you crush, recycle, and sell new.

 

If you want to protect the environment, there's a reason it's "Reduce, reuse, recycle" in that order. Apparently, Apple didn't get the memo given their past track record.

[Dabombinable]

2 minutes ago, StDragon said:

100% sealed up and waterproof? Well, that might be the selling point. But it's also to limit the resell-ability once the battery reached its end of life. All encased in an epoxy resin perhaps? You don't fix - you crush, recycle, and sell new.

 

If you want to protect the environment, there's a reason it's "Reduce, reuse, recycle" in that order. Apparently, Apple didn't get the memo given their past track record.

Apple will only ever pay lip service when it comes to being truly environmentally friendly. Lack of true reparability = most broken devices go to land fill.

[Commodus]

Can I be the seemingly lone voice of reason and point out that a single Twitter post over a year before release doesn't amount to an "omg confirmed" leak?

 

There has been talk of portless iPhones before, but a lot can happen between now and September 2021.  I certainly won't rule it out, but I also wouldn't be shocked if Apple stuck to a conventional cable in the end.

[StDragon]

1 minute ago, Dabombinable said:

Lack of true reparability = most broken devices go to land fill.

That's the entire point. You limit the supply of used equipment so that Apple has continual sales. Otherwise they will reach market saturation. Their shareholders don't like that; the beast must grow.

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, huilun02 said:

Its ok, the sheep will gobble it up and it will suddenly be the best thing ever

Implication being some humans are sheep and some humans arent.  The sad bit is all humans are sheep, no exceptions.  they merely often don’t think they are.

[Commodus]

58 minutes ago, StDragon said:

That's the entire point. You limit the supply of used equipment so that Apple has continual sales. Otherwise they will reach market saturation. Their shareholders don't like that; the beast must grow.

It's weird that people claim this when Apple offers much longer OS support for iPhones than Google and and its OEMs do for Android (typically five years versus two) and has been stepping up its efforts to optimize and extend battery life.  Just yesterday it put out a macOS update that adjusts your battery's peak capacity to extend the lifespan (it did similar things for iPhones a while back).

 

That doesn't strike me as arbitrarily limiting used products... just the opposite, in fact.  It sounds more like Apple wants you to have a positive experience late in your device's lifecycle so that you're more likely to buy another Apple product on the other side.

[StDragon]

23 minutes ago, Commodus said:

That doesn't strike me as arbitrarily limiting used products to me... just the opposite, in fact.  It sounds more like Apple wants you to have a positive experience late in your device's lifecycle so that you're more likely to buy another Apple product on the other side.

It's a conflict of interest to be sure. One one hand, they want to provide a seemingly good quality product to their customers. On the other, they will lock-down and control the supply chain so prevent said market saturation. The end-game for Apple (and all companies) is a reoccurring revenue stream via subscription model and leasing of hardware. Ultimately they're selling an experience rather than a single piece of hardware. In fact, the goal is ambient computing where your iDevice is but an extension to their cloud platform, and is treated as such. Far easier to predict your next quarterly earnings (shareholders love that) outlook when you have a near-guaranteed revenue stream.

 

But as for the quality of their hardware, it's no better than the rest of the industry. Louis Rossmann has a thing or two to say about that. In fact, he has an entire company and Youtube channel dedicated to that very topic.

[Sauron]

12 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

If Apple pushes this one too far people may quit the platform.

Given what Apple has been able to pull in the past with no negative consequences on their sales I wouldn't count on it.

 

Wireless charging in my opinion makes no sense since you still need to carry a wire, a charger and a charging pad with you AND the phone needs to sit on the pad all the time so you can't even use it AND it's inherently highly inefficient compared to any type of cable. A magsafe type charger would have made infinitely more sense while still removing the "annoyance" of plugging the cable in by hand.

 

This is before any cost considerations, too - I imagine the price of the charging pad will be significant.

 

But hey, half of these concerns apply to the jack vs bt debacle too but Apple costumers didn't seem to care. It doesn't even need to be a binary choice since you can simply have both as it has been for years and yet simply removing useful features has been well received.

[Commodus]

1 minute ago, StDragon said:

It's a conflict of interest to be sure. One one hand, they want to provide a seemingly good quality product to their customers. On the other, they will lock-down and control the supply chain so prevent said market saturation. The end-game for Apple (and all companies) is a reoccurring revenue stream via subscription model and leasing of hardware. Ultimately they're selling an experience rather than a single piece of hardware. In fact, the goal is ambient computing where your iDevice is but an extension to their cloud platform, and is treated as such. Far easier to predict your next quarterly revenue (shareholders love that) outlook when you have a near-guaranteed revenue stream.

 

But as for the quality of their hardware, it's no better than the rest of the industry. Louis Rossmann as a thing or two to say about that. In fact, he has an entire company and Youtube channel dedicated to that very topic.

Not seemingly... and while Apple definitely isn't perfect, saying its hardware is no better than "the rest of the industry" just isn't true.  Many lower-end Windows laptops are made of flimsier materials and take shortcuts in other areas, like the battery.  Strictly anecdotally, I know of more than a few horror stories of laptops from Dell, HP and the like that failed repeatedly where those stories are considerably rarer in the Mac crowd.  I'd chalk that up at least partly to Apple focusing on the premium space to start with, but that still leaves Apple being more reliable overall.

 

Also, Apple only just started ramping up its services.  Its hardware sales in the latest quarter generated three times as much revenue as services did.  It's still primarily a hardware company; for now, at least, it uses services chiefly to provide more consistent revenue that isn't tied as closely to device release cycles.

 

And I'm sorry, but Louis Rossmann's word means nothing on this subject.  He can point out design issues, but he has no qualifications on discussing Apple's reliability rates -- he's running one indie repair shop.  I know people here worship Rossmann as a god, but he's just an entrepreneur with a business to sell.