Update May 24, 2022: Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has made another statement about the AirPods Pro 2. In addition to saying that the release of the AirPods Pro 2 is planned for this fall , he now also adds that the charging case still features Lightning. This means that Apple will not make the switch from Lightning to USB-c with the AirPods in 2022. Earlier, the analyst predicted that Apple ‘in the future’ The AirPods are also switching from Lightning to USB-c, but that will not happen this autumn.
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5. For Chinese companies, Luxshare ICT and Goertek, who are AirPods series assemblers, setting up facilities in Vietnam instead of India can also reduce potential geopolitical risks.
6. I predict the charging case of AirPods Pro 2 will still support Lightning, not USB-C.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) May 24, 2022
Below is our previous article from May 15, 2022
‘AirPods will get usb-c in the future’
An iPhone with usb-c has been talked about for some time, but all kinds of accessories are also going to take the plunge, according to analyst Kuo. The AirPods, MagSafe Battery Pack and more are also in the future, Kuo predicts. According to him, Apple's initial plans to do away with ports altogether were too ambitious. Apple initially wanted to release an iPhone without a port in 2021 and although such a device has also been tested, it never came out. Also in the short term, Kuo does not expect Apple to completely do away with the physical charging port. Instead, we get usb-c on a wider scale.
An iPhone without a port would cause a lot of problems today, Kuo thinks. This is due to the limitations of wireless technologies and the fact that MagSafe does not yet have a mature ecosystem. But a switch to USB-C is feasible for Apple. Kuo thinks that a Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse with usb-c will also be on the market in addition to the accessories already mentioned.
These AirPods already have a USB-C port, thanks to a student craft project.
It remains to be seen when the AirPods and other accessories will receive USB-c. Kuo doesn't talk about a specific year, so the most logical period is at the same time as an iPhone with usb-c. According to rumors, that would be with the iPhone 15, so in the fall of 2023.
It really seems that Apple is gradually putting the Lightning port aside. In 2012, the first product with Lightning connector appeared and Apple CEO Phil Schiller said at the time that this was the charging port “for the next decade” would become. Apple seems to be very strict about Schiller's statement, because that ten-year period will end in 2022. Apple could even adapt a few accessories for USB-C before the iPhone, so that people are more used to it. But there are no indications for that yet.
Revision history:
- 2022 – May 24, 09:11 : Article corrected for year in response to statements by Ming-Chi Kuo. The article has also been supplemented with a new rumor about the AirPods Pro 2.