Apple might finally ditch the Lightning port for USB-C with the iPhone 15, report says

The Lightning port was admittedly a great innovation when it was first introduced back in 2012 with the announcement of the iPhone 5. Yes, back when phones had a single digit slapped to their names, instead of two.

Two years later, though, an alternative that was in many ways better entered the market—the USB-C port. Many phone manufacturers, as well as other players in the mobile tech industry, were quick to jump on the wagon and adopt USB-C, since it was superior in almost every way compared to what was previously available.

Apple, however, has gone on up to this day without taking the step to adopt USB-C on its phones, and now, it seems this might finally change in the near future.

Famous Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo posted on Twitter today that his latest survey indicates Apple will finally swap the Lightning port with USB-C with the announcement of iPhone 15. Or in other words, in the second half of 2023.

Showdown: Apple vs the EU

Now, it is not very clear whether this change, if it does happen, would come for all iPhones 15 models or just some of them. In fact, it is not even clear if this would apply for all iPhones worldwide.

You see, one of the reasons that is the most likely catalyst for Apple to make this decision is not the benefits that USB-C would bring to customers, but more likely the growing pressure from the European Union for some time.

The European Parliament has been discussing the topic of a common charging standard for mobile device makers in the EU for quite some time now. Despite receiving pushback from big tech companies, members of the European Parliament overwhelmingly voted in support of this new legislation back in April.

It is not totally out of the question that Kuo is wrong about this, so take it with a grain of salt. That being said, the pressure coming from the EU is not to be taken lightly, and it could serve as a clear sign of how Apple might decide to go forward with adopting USB-C for products like the iPhone.