As predicted, Apple today announced that it is replacing the familiar 30-pin dock connector for its mobile devices with a new smaller one. The new connector bears the name "Lightning".
The new cable is described as an all-digital, 8-signal design with an adaptive interface, and improved durability. Users can use it in either orientation (reversible) and it's 80% smaller than the old dock connector.
Making iPhone 5 thinner and lighter required a pivotal change: replacing the 30-pin connector with something newer, smaller, and better. Introducing the Lightning connector. It features an all-digital, eight-signal design that’s significantly more durable than the 30-pin connector. Another brilliant feature of Lightning: It’s reversible. Which means there’s no wrong way to plug in the cable.
Apple will be providing an adapter for existing accessories and companies like Bose, JBL, B&W, and B&O are already working on the new connector. Apple's adapters include a direct plug adapter priced at $29 and one incorporating a short cable for $39.
Apple has yet to reveal when the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra will be announced and released, but the dates usually follow a familiar pattern.
As usual, the event is expected to take place in the first half of September.
Labor Day falls on September 7 this year. The last time the holiday was on that day was in 2020, but the iPhone event that year was delayed until October due to the...
Apple is working on camera-equipped AirPods that appear to be nearly ready to launch, based on a video MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate.
In a short demo, a man holds a book up so the camera in the AirPods can see the title. "With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later," says the voiceover text.
Here ...
Tuesday August 18, 2026 9:14 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple in April announced that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO at the end of this month, after 15 years of leading the company.
Cook has been Apple's CEO since 2011
Effective September 1, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus will become the company's next CEO, while Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. In his new role, Apple said Cook will assist...
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a ~5.5-inch outer display and a ~7.8-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.
