This year, Apple released the iPhone 15 series equipped with USB-C, but the Lightning port remains in some Mac accessories. However, the latest rumours suggest that these accessories will be updated with USB-C ports as early as the first half of next year. Insiders mention “spring 2024” in their assumptions.
In the leak, we are talking about such accessories as the Apple Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad. No other information is available yet, so perhaps the switch to USB-C will be the only change in the new devices.
Once that happens, there won’t be many Apple products left with a Lightning port. Of course, the company continues to sell older iPhones. For example, the iPhone SE 3 has a Lightning port on the bottom panel, although its successor, the iPhone SE 4, will already support USB-C, as analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently noted.
Another recent rumour suggests that the new iPad Air, iPad Pro and MacBook Air models – all with their own M3 chip – could also be introduced in March, April or May 2024. So it looks like there will be quite a bit of new iron at the show.
Apple has launched products in March in the past, although this year the company took a different route. This year, we had Apple’s M2 chips and some related Mac updates announced in January, then nothing until WWDC 2023 in June. It remains to be seen whether there will be a full event that will be streamed live on the Internet, as was the case in March 2022, when products including Mac Studio were announced, or whether Apple will settle for a flurry of press releases.
It makes sense for Apple to phase out Lightning, although we’ll never know if the port would have remained in the iPhone if not for European Union rules. Looks like it’s Apple’s turn to update accessories.
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