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Apple is on an ongoing crusade against unnecessary ports, and it looks like the next on the list is the iPhone’s Lightning port.
It makes a lot of sense for Apple to remove the Lightning port from the iPhone in many ways. To start with, it’s an additional component that needs to be installed. It takes up space in the iPhone, and it’s a hole that allows water and other random schmoo to enter the iPhone.
It is also one less part to wear out.
But these are all things that benefit Apple. What about you, as the person who paid a lot of money for your iPhone?
What is life like after the Lightning port?
Well, that means anything you own that plugs into that Lightning port will be scrapped. Cables, chargers, USB sticks, FLIR IR cameras, docking stations, drone controllers.
All.
I can’t imagine how many Lightning props exist in nature. Over the years, I’ve handled several hundred of them, and I have dozens of them on my desk and on the shelves around me right now.
Getting rid of the Lightning port would create a massive amount of electronic waste overnight.
And Apple knows it.
How do we know Apple knows?
Because at this time of last year he used that exact reason to defend himself against pressure from the European Commission to switch to USB-C. Apple claimed that the switch from Lightning to USB-C would create “an unprecedented amount of electronic waste” and disrupt “hundreds of millions of active devices and accessories used by our European customers.”
Well, the same would be true for the Lightning port.
It would create a lot of waste.
So what has changed in a year?
Apple may offer a wireless dongle to act as a bridge, but who knows.
And it’s probably not cheap.
The flip side is that since iPhones have a long lifespan, Apple might argue that these accessories won’t end up becoming obsolete overnight. However, in my experience, while iPhones have a long lifespan, I don’t see the same for accessories.
Apple could try to claim that the change it makes is making up for any waste. I don’t know if I would buy this to be honest.
Also, let’s take into account that wireless charging is a huge waste of electricity. Horribly so.
And wireless charging can never be as efficient as a wire.
I’ve also heard people worry that they won’t be able to put iPhones into recovery mode without a Lightning port, which would involve going to the Apple Store. This is indeed another concern. The flip side of the coin is that it would make the iPhone much more resistant to jailbreaking or to data accessed without the user’s consent.
What do you think of Apple’s removal of the Lightning port?
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