Apple managed to change the world on September 12, 2012. Before the iPhone 5, the company had used a far less superior technology known as the “Apple 30-Pin”. At the time, it was huge to see a brand invent a new type of charger. The problem was the fact that these chargers were proprietary and very slow at charging.

Once the iPhone 5 came out, it launched with a new type of charger called the lightning connector. While it was still proprietary, it was much simpler to make accessories for and the fact it charged way faster as well.

11 years later and they’re still using the lightning connector, even though it’s essentially being left in the dust by other chargers such as USB-C. People were requesting Apple to ditch the old port for USB-C due to the fact that lightning is starting to fall behind in a lack of features and charging speeds.

Apple is being rather reluctant to change due to the money they’re making off of the “Made for Apple” accessory initiative, in which they receive a portion of earnings on all lightning port accessories. Soon though, Apple may be forced to change this.

Recently the European Union enforced a law in which a majority of sold technology that charges via wired cable, will be forced to switch over to USB-C. This law should go into effect as of 2024.

When Apple was questioned in an interview about the topic, they said that they would comply with the newly established law. News outlets rushed to write articles on how Apple “Confirmed USB-C would come to Iphones”, except the fact that Apple never said that.

The law states that the device needs to be charged via wire. As of now, Apple has been pushing their new Magsafe initiative. Magsafe is WIRELESS CHARGING, and it seems that they’ve been pushing it more and more recently. The new iPhones, Airpods, iPads, and more, are all starting to be charged wireless. 

Apple’s next push was supposed to be Magsafe before the law came around. This leads many to believe that Apple will just remove the port entirely. While Magsafe is rather limited in its data transfer speeds, it’s able to charge at 15 watts like a normal charger. What’s stopping them from going full force on innovating the capabilities of Magsafe, they have two whole years to do so along with a bottomless pocket of cash.

While it looks like Apple may end up removing the ports off of iPhones and maybe some other devices, some smaller rumors have started to surface that Apple will begin to limit the charging speeds and capabilities of non-apple USB-C chargers on supported devices. 

Either way, these are extremely scummy business practices for Apple, a billion dollar company, to be enacting.