Apple is ready to unveil its new iPhone 15 lineup subsequent Tuesday, which can herald the ultimate finish for the proprietary Lightning port that has graced the underside of the iPhone for the previous ten years.
Whereas nothing is definite till Apple takes the stage, each leaker, analyst, and different a part of the rumor mill concur that this would be the 12 months that Apple switches the iPhone to utilizing a USB-C port. With the European Union mandating a typical charging commonplace by the top of 2024, Apple has no alternative however to bow to the inevitable, and it might as properly get forward of the sport.
Whereas the Lightning port continues to be current in a handful of Apple equipment, as soon as the iPhone makes the swap to USB-C, it received’t make almost as a lot sense for companion units like AirPods to proceed to make use of that port. Analysts have lengthy predicted that Apple might be all-in on USB-C by 2024, and up to date stories have recommended that Apple’s AirPods would be the first to make the swap.
Since Apple’s commonplace AirPods are due for a refresh, it’s seemingly we’ll see a brand new set of “AirPods 4” introduced alongside the iPhone household subsequent week. The present “AirPods 3” had been launched in 2021 and lack Apple’s newest H2 chip essential to energy a lot of the enjoyable new AirPods-related options coming in iOS 17.
Nevertheless, the AirPods Professional are a distinct matter. The present second-generation mannequin got here out final fall alongside the iPhone 14 lineup — and so they’re absolutely supported by iOS 17. In actual fact, they’re the one AirPods which are proper now. In a way, AirPods Professional customers will get a major improve from the software program, which suggests there’s even much less of a cause to replace the {hardware}.
So, it’s not cheap to imagine we’ll be seeing a considerably refreshed model of those. Whereas sources recommend the AirPods Professional will get the USB-C therapy, there’s a great likelihood that’s all they’ll get, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman concurs.
In his newest Energy On publication, Gurman factors out how Apple plans to place the swap to USB-C as a win — under no circumstances shocking for an organization that prefers to function from a place of power and sure an enormous a part of why it’s making the change now somewhat than subsequent 12 months. It’s uncertain that Apple likes the concept, nevertheless it’s actually not going to confess that it was compelled to make such a change.
As a part of Apple’s sunny optimism about getting into the courageous new world of USB-C, Gurman says it’s going to refresh the AirPods Professional with a USB-C charging case within the package deal. Nevertheless, the brand new case would be the solely change, with the AirPods Professional earbuds remaining an identical to those which are available on the market now.
That’s not shocking while you keep in mind that Apple did this when it added MagSafe charging to the AirPods household two years in the past. When Apple launched the AirPods 3 with MagSafe compatibility, it wasn’t about to depart the extra premium AirPods Professional out of the social gathering, so it modified up the case within the package deal to incorporate a magnetic model that might connect to a MagSafe charger. Nevertheless, the first-generation AirPods Professional contained in the case remained the identical, and even the brand new MagSafe case didn’t provide any sooner charging capabilities.
So, Apple will seemingly do the identical with the AirPods Professional 2 this 12 months. Within the subsequent few weeks, Apple Shops will seemingly quietly start promoting the identical AirPods Professional, on the similar value, with a USB-C case contained in the field as a substitute of a Lightning one. Whether or not the case might be offered individually for current AirPods Professional customers is one other query; Apple by no means did that with the MagSafe case, however that was arguably a far much less vital improve. With the iPhone 15 switching to USB-C, it will be a disgrace if people nonetheless wanted to hold a Lightning cable round simply to cost their AirPods.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]