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ports are out

Jon Prosser: 'One portless iPhone coming next year'

Apple would rather give up ports altogether before switching to USB-C.
Oliver Haslam

iPhone charging portSource: Joseph Keller/iMore

What you need to know

  • Apple will reportedly release one port-free iPhone next year.
  • That's according to prolific Apple leaker Jon Prosser.
  • He also reiterated that Apple wouldn't switch to USB-C and that all iPhones would eventually be portless.

Jon Prosser has "confirmed" that Apple is planning to release one portless iPhone next year. He was responding to a tweet about iPhone 12 leaks.

In response to a tweet about iPhone 12 leaks Prosser dropped the following:

The idea of a portless iPhone isn't a new one and we pondered it ourselves earlier this year. But would Apple really manage to ditch the humble Lightning port as soon as next year?

The requirements for that to happen are pretty daunting. Current iPhones can only charge wirelessly at a fraction of most Android phones, and even those don't charge quickly enough without using a cable. Then there's the recovery aspect of things, with Lightning to USB cables needed to bring iPhones back to life if they suffer catastrophic iOS failure.

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We've heard rumors of a new remote recovery feature coming in a future update, but that would need to be tried and tested before we wave goodbye to Lightning.

This is one I won't be holding my breath on – but who am I to disagree with Jon Prosser?