Kuo: AirPods, MagSafe Battery Pack, and Other Apple Accessories Also to Switch to USB-C in Future

Earlier this week, well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that Apple plans to release at least one iPhone 15 model with a USB-C port in 2023. Now, in a follow-up tweet, he has claimed that accessories like AirPods, the MagSafe Battery Pack, and the Magic Keyboard/Mouse/Trackpad trio would also switch to USB-C in the "foreseeable future."

airpodsprodesign
Both the iPhone and all of the aforementioned accessories currently rely on Apple's proprietary Lightning connector for wired charging and/or data transfer. A switch to USB-C would result in a more universal connectivity standard and satisfy regulators, as a wide range of tech products are equipped with USB-C ports, including many Android smartphones and even the latest MacBooks and iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad mini models.


Kuo also suggested that it is still too early for Apple to release a portless iPhone due to current limitations of wireless technologies and the immaturity of Apple's own MagSafe ecosystem of wireless accessories that attach magnetically to the iPhone.

Related Roundups: AirPods 3, AirPods Pro
Related Forum: AirPods

Top Rated Comments

Lounge vibes 05 Avatar
25 months ago
I still don’t understand to this day why the mouse, keyboard and trackpad have lightning.
All of these other products having lightning makes sense because they’re mainly meant for iOS devices, so them using the exact same port is expected.
But the mouse, keyboard and trackpad all come with the Mac, are all accessories for the Mac. They should have the same port as the Mac.
Even the iPad Magic Keyboard has USB-C, it makes no sense
Score: 57 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rychiar Avatar
25 months ago
this would be a nice time for them to redesign the mouse charging port to a position that isn't complete ridiculous...
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lounge vibes 05 Avatar
25 months ago

People have lighting cables from iPhones, don’t need to buy usb-c cables if they don’t want to.
All these accessories come with lightning cables. If you purchase a desktop Mac that has the accessories in the box, they come with lightning cables.
That doesn’t make it make any more sense
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MasterControlProgram Avatar
25 months ago
So much of my stuff is USB-C now that still having Lightning on the iPhone and AirPods and having to keep adapters around for them is a pain. If they really are ditching Lightning next year I might wait to upgrade my iPhone until then.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mrat93 Avatar
25 months ago

well for others it's the opposite - we have lightning cables pretty much everywhere, multiples in each location actually (bedrooms, living room, kitchen, cars, travel bags, etc.) since most of our devices all still use them (iphones, ipads, airpods, power banks, etc.) and comparatively have very few devices that use USB-C.

i acknowledge that eventually we'll all be forced to switch over as devices evolve and we eventually upgrade, but for now to most people who don't actually need to do a lot of data transfer, USB-C doesn't really offer any real world advantage over lightning (the cable's just used for charging anyway).

it just means that our existing lightning cables will become useless & we'll have to spend extra money buying a whole bunch of extra USB-C cables to place everywhere instead...
1. Your Lightning cables won’t be useless. They will still work on all of your existing devices and the tens of billions of existing devices in the world.
2. USB-C opens the door to much faster charging as well.
3. I’m sorry to say that you’re likely in the minority of people who are all-in on Lightning.

Honestly, you can/should be annoyed with Apple for taking this long — Apple duped its users (myself included) for years by creating a whole ecosystem of accessories when they knew Lightning would eventually die. They should have done this 5 years sooner.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Premium1 Avatar
25 months ago
As they should. If Apple truly cares about the environment, needing to have multiple different cords for different devices is stupid. I know they want to make $$ with their licensing of lightning, but come on.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Delta Feature

Delta Game Emulator Now Available From App Store on iPhone

Wednesday April 17, 2024 9:58 am PDT by
Game emulator apps have come and gone since Apple announced App Store support for them on April 5, but now popular game emulator Delta from developer Riley Testut is available for download. Testut is known as the developer behind GBA4iOS, an open-source emulator that was available for a brief time more than a decade ago. GBA4iOS led to Delta, an emulator that has been available outside of...
iOS NES Emulator Bimmy Feature

NES Emulator for iPhone and iPad Now Available on App Store [Removed]

Tuesday April 16, 2024 11:33 am PDT by
The first approved Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for the iPhone and iPad was made available on the App Store today following Apple's rule change. The emulator is called Bimmy, and it was developed by Tom Salvo. On the App Store, Bimmy is described as a tool for testing and playing public domain/"homebrew" games created for the NES, but the app allows you to load ROMs for any...
iPhone 15 Pro Action Button Translate

All iPhone 16 Models to Feature Action Button, But Usefulness Debated

Tuesday April 16, 2024 6:54 am PDT by
Last September, Apple's iPhone 15 Pro models debuted with a new customizable Action button, offering faster access to a handful of functions, as well as the ability to assign Shortcuts. Apple is poised to include the feature on all upcoming iPhone 16 models, so we asked iPhone 15 Pro users what their experience has been with the additional button so far. The Action button replaces the switch ...
maxresdefault

Hands-On With the New App Store Delta Game Emulator

Wednesday April 17, 2024 12:19 pm PDT by
A decade ago, developer Riley Testut released the GBA4iOS emulator for iOS, and since it was against the rules at the time, Apple put a stop to downloads. Emulators have been a violation of the App Store rules for years, but that changed on April 5 when Apple suddenly reversed course and said that it was allowing retro game emulators on the App Store. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Friday April 12, 2024 11:11 am PDT by
iOS 18 is expected to be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. iOS 18 is rumored to include new generative AI features for Siri and many apps, and Apple plans to add RCS support to the Messages app for an improved texting experience between iPhones and Android devices. The update is also expected to introduce a more...