Claimed photos of iPhone 15 USB-C port components have been posted by two Twitter accounts, though their provenance is unknown. They are shown on the right, alongside our render.
One of the accounts is that of an engineer who appears to have a significant amount of expertise with Apple devices, posting videos of modifications they have made …
Twitter user lipilipsi whose account is named fix Apple posted photos of two USB-C ports with attached circuitry and ribbon cables, with one said to be for the base model iPhone 15, the other for the iPhone 15 Plus.
A second Twitter user, John011235, posted the same components with the same labels, plus a third one identified as iPhone 15 Pro Max (shown above).
Neither account has an established track record with Apple component leaks, so they may or may not be the actual iPhone 15 parts, but they are consistent. Either way, there seems no remaining doubt that all four models will have USB-C ports in place of Lightning ones.
The switch to USB-C was effectively dictated by the European Union, which requires all smartphone manufacturers to adopt a single charging port. Originally, this would have been the crime-against-humanity that is microUSB, but fortunately the legislation took so long to pass that it ended up mandating USB-C.
The purpose of the law is to reduce electrical waste, by enabling smartphone owners to retain their existing charging bricks and cables when upgrading to a new phone.
Apple would have had the option of making a special USB-C model for the EU market, but it clearly made more sense to adopt the new port globally. Especially as US lawmakers have also proposed similar legislation.
It’s extremely likely that Apple would have made the switch even without the legal requirement, having adopted USB-C for both iPad and MacBooks – even if the latter did later gain a MagSafe charging port too. This view is reinforced by the fact that the EU law doesn’t come into effect until 2024, and Apple is instead making the switch this year.
The big advantage for owners of multiple Apple products is the ability to use a single set of chargers and cables for all their main devices.
For some, the change will make no difference, as they simply use wireless charging – but for those who need rapid charging top-ups during the course of a long day, USB-C should make for more convenient charging.
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