Apple is considering a new port for the iPhone for charging and possibly also data transfer purposes, a patent granted to the company by the United States Patent and Trademark office suggests. The Lightning port on the current generation iPhones is almost nine year old, having been released in 2012 with the iPhone 5. While the Lightning port is not specifically bad, the whole of the tech industry has moved onto USB-C which makes all devices universal in terms of charging and data transfer. However, the new patent paints the picture of a future in which the iPhone will not use USB-C but instead a MagSafe type (used on MacBooks) port for charging and other purposes.
The patent was discovered by the popular Apple patents blog PatentlyApple which happens to always be the first to know of all the patents granted to the Cupertino based iPhone maker. According to the report, Apple has patented a slew of different types of magnetic smart connectors for the use on the iPhone. It’s unclear if the iPhone will receive the new charging technology this year but it makes more sense for the company to do so in 2022 which will make the Lightning port have lived a life of ten years.
Apple also released the MagSafe for iPhone last year along with its flagship 2020 iPhones. The technology while interesting is not perfect, the charging speeds through the MagSafe wireless chargers is limited to a maximum of 15W. Whereas the wired Lightning port allows for the iPhone to be charged at 20W which is slightly faster and helps users charge their iPhones quickly. However, by introducing a new wired magnetic connector, Apple could push the charging speeds to new heights, as wired charging is always preferred over wireless, as it does not suffer from issues such as heating and energy loss in the process.
