Apple Is Transitioning Fully to USB

May 03, 2023

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Apple confirmed that it will release an iPhone that uses USB-C for charging instead of its proprietary Lightning standard, according to the Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern.

Apple's confirmation comes as the EU finalized a new law that forces tech manufacturers to use the USB-C charging standard by the fall of 2024 for many portable, battery-powered devices sold in the EU, including Apple's.

It wasn't confirmed whether USB-C iPhones will be released in 2023, 2024, or even 2025 — Apple could announce its 2024 iPhones, likely in September, before the EU's new law goes into effect in the fall of 2024.

It also wasn't confirmed whether Apple will release a separate iPhone with Lightning outside the EU after the law is in effect.

It doesn't necessarily mean you'd need to ditch all your Lightning cables, as only the iPhone models released after the EU's law would come with USB-C ports. Older models released before the law goes into effect will still use the Lightning standard.

That means the Lightning standard and relevant accessories, like Lightning cables, would still be relevant until Apple stops selling Lightning iPhones, which could be a couple years after the law goes into effect.

Even after Apple sells the last Lightning iPhone, many users will still own Lightning iPhones for several years to come. It's unclear whether Apple will keep selling Lightning cables and accessories after it discontinues sales of the last Lightning iPhone.

By converting all its remaining Lightning devices to USB-C, you would conceivably only need one single USB-C charging cable and charging brick to charge all your Apple devices. Currently, you need USB-C cables for Apple's Mac laptops and most of its iPads, but you need a separate Lightning cable for iPhones, AirPods, and the 9th-generation iPad.

No doubt, you might want a couple more USB-C cables and chargers so you can charge multiple devices at the same time. Still, at least all your devices would use a single standard, so you could switch the charging connection between a Mac and iPhone without reaching for a Lightning cable.

As long as you have a charging brick with a USB-C port, it's very unlikely that you'd need to buy new charging bricks for a USB-C iPhone. You'd simply plug a USB-C-to-USB-C cable into the charger and iPhone. Apple sells its own USB-C charging bricks, and there are countless third-party options, too.

Apple hasn't confirmed whether it would include USB-C-to-USB-C charging cables with USB-C iPhones, but the company likely will. If it doesn't, you could use a USB-C cable that came with another device — that's the beauty of the universal USB-C charging standard.

I can't talk about USB-C without at least mentioning the confusion it's caused — some USB-C cables are only made for charging, while others are only built for data transfer. For simple charging, however, it shouldn't be too confusing, as most USB-C cables that are included with devices today support charging.

It's unlikely that Apple would start including charging bricks again with USB-C iPhones.

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