It feels like We’ve been saying goodbye to Apple’s Lightning cable for some time now, and that farewell seems to be getting closer after the company’s September Glowtime event. With the slew of devices announced, Apple has now transitioned most of its flagship products to USB-C. However, the proprietary connector we know so well is still lurking in some corners of its product lineup if you look hard enough. But for how much longer?
It’s no secret that Apple’s transition to USB-C has been chaotic and disorganized (WIRED writer Andrew Williams even wrote a heartfelt eulogy for Lightning in 2020). And yet, here we are in 2024, with a few lonely Lightning products still hanging on.
How did we get here? The Lightning connector was first announced in 2012 alongside the iPhone 5, as a replacement for another proprietary charger: the bulky, failure-prone 30-pin connector. Not only was the Lightning connector much smaller, creating more room inside devices for other components (like larger batteries), but it also raised the bar for durability. Plus, it was reversible, so no matter how you plugged it in, it fit.
Proprietary chargers, however, also gave Apple control. Each Lightning connector has a tiny Apple chip that helps regulate voltage, and while that arguably improves safety, it has also allowed the company to charge licensing fees to third-party accessory makers, piggybacking on the Lightning port through the company’s Made for iPhone (MFi) program. It’s easy to see why it would want to keep the standard around for as long as possible.
That said, the steady shift to USB-C actually began on Apple’s own accord, in 2018 with the iPad Pro. In 2020, the iPad Air followed suit, and then the iPad Mini in 2021. We’ll never know if Apple would have moved iPhones along as well, because in 2022 the European Union stepped in and passed a law mandating that phones, cameras, and tablets sold in the region had Apple announced it would add a USB-C port later this year. Apple said it would comply, but was not happy with the move, saying such strict regulation “stifles innovation.”
Whether or not the company actually believed it, the move to USB-C doesn’t seem to have stopped Apple. At its Glowtime hardware event, it took the opportunity to move the rest of the AirPods family over to USB-C.finally Update AirPods Max to the form factor and bring it to the new AirPods 4 as well. Which Lightning products are left?
Aside from older iPhones and the first-generation Apple Pencil that are still on sale, the only current-generation products still on sale that feature a Lightning connection are the Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad. However, it’s entirely possible that these Mac accessories could also be upgraded to USB-C later this year.
According to the Power On Newsletter, From Bloomberg Mark Gurman expects Apple to hold another event in October to announce the iMac, Mac Mini, MacBook Pro, and new iPad models with M4 processors. It would make sense for the company to include updated versions of its keyboard, mouse, and trackpad at that time.
As for the first-generation Apple Pencil, it might as well be discontinued. At this point, having four different styluses to choose from is overkill, especially when one of them requires removing the cap and awkwardly plugging it into an (old) iPad’s Lightning port to charge.
But Apple might take a little longer to get rid of those remaining iPhones in its store. Since this year’s iPhone hardware event has already passed, we likely won’t see these models removed from the catalog until next month, with the possibility that the company will also announce the long-awaited next-generation iPhone SE with USB-C.
Either way, this means that the Lightning cable is still in the Apple universe, at least for now. But the end is nigh, and 2025 could finally be the year Lightning heads to the big proprietary device recycling bin in the sky.
