Lightning’s tenth year its last?

Lightning port and cable. © iStock.

In September 2012, Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing chief, announced that the company was giving up on its 30-pin connector that until then came with all iPhones. It was replacing it with a small, revolutionary new port called Lightning. Compact, reversible and robust, it was a big step up compared to its predecessor and competitors. Ten years later, and the Lightning cord still reliably charges devices and connects peripherals, though its days might be numbered. Not that it’s obsolete, but its failing lies elsewhere: it’s not become universal and it’s in fact exclusive to Apple, whereas its USB-C competitor, which came out in 2014, is now ubiquitous, including on some Apple devices. This is leading regulators in various countries to address the unnecessary proliferation of cables that consumers are dealing with. The European Commission is on the verge of making USB-C the mandatory charging standard for all phones. This new regulation aims to reduce electronic waste by letting people reuse chargers and cables they already own when they buy new devices. There’s a good chance that Lightning will disappear from the next iPhone generation, and its use for devices such as Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard and AirPods is also not a given.

⇨ The Verge, Mitchell Clark, “Apple’s Lightning cable turns 10, but its time is over.”

2022-09-01