Apple (again) said to be going portless with its 2021 iPhone. But only one.

By Oliver Haslam
published

iPhone charging port
iPhone charging port (Image credit: Joseph Keller/iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple is once again rumored to be launching a portless iPhone next year.
  • But not all models will be without ports, says Jon Prosser.

Apple will launch a portless iPhone next year, but not all of its lineup will ditch the Lightning connector. That's according to the well-connected Jon Prosser in a video posted to YouTube today.

As Prosser rightly points out, rumors of portless iPhones are nothing new but they do make much more sense than going USB-C. Especially if portless is Apple's endgame. It's also important to remember that Prosser made similar claims earlier this year.

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That tweet now is now six months old and Prosser continues to stand by it.

If Apple does drop the Lightning port from a single iPhone in 2021, which one might that be? Apple is already rumored to be launching a four-iPhone lineup next year – the same iPhone, iPhone mini, iPhone Pro, iPhone Pro Max lineup as 2020 – and making a single model port-free seems odd, to say the least.

My guess would be the iPhone 13 Pro Max for no reason other than it being the most costly model Apple will offer. We'll have to wait for Prosser to spill the beans if and when he finds out, though.

One thing we can pretty much put to bed here, though – Apple isn't going to switch to USB-C. Not next year, not ever.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.