The Portless iPhone—Why MagSafe is the Key

April 22, 2022April 22, 2022 dmb

The Portless iPhone—Why MagSafe is the Key" title="The Portless iPhone—Why MagSafe is the Key" />

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A USB-C port might not be coming to the iPhone 14 Professional – or any iPhone for that matter. But a leaker's tip about iPhone 14 plans also included some details about how Apple could release a portless phone down the road.

writing to iDropNews, LeaksApplePro caused quite a stir by claiming that Apple will not include a USB-C port on the iPhone 14 Professional models, as had been previously hinted. Instead, the leaker claims, this fall's Professional devices will retain a Lightning port, but with faster transfer speeds - an apparent concession for professional users who do a lot of video transfers from their phones to other devices.

There's some logic behind this prediction - Apple earns royalties from accessories that use the Lightning port and isn't eager to give up that revenue stream. But for me, the most interesting part of the article was some speculation about the portless future of the iPhone.

We've heard reports before that Apple was working on a portless iPhone, though that won't be the case with this year's updates. The problem seems to be that Apple would have to find alternatives for each of the tasks the Lightning port handles – charging, data transfer and, as there's no audio jack, a place to plug in wired headphones.

The popularity of AirPods would apparently solve the headphone problem, and iPhones have supported wireless charging since the iPhone 8. That leaves just transferring data, and LeaksApplePro suggests the alternative method is already in place on the iPhone – MagSafe connectivity .

Although MagSafe does not currently transfer data, it certainly can in a future form. And Apple is definitely exploring the possibility, based on patents like this one from a year ago that handle wireless data transfer using magnetic connections similar to how MagSafe accessories work.

The challenge now is to make sure the data transfer is fast enough. "Apple will not move to a portless iPhone until engineers can achieve decent transfer speeds in MagSafe," writes LeaksApplePro, adding that Apple also needs to make transfers work not just between iPhones and other Apple devices, but also with Home windows and Linux machines. This will take pace.

How much pace though? The leaker predicts that the iPhone 16 Professional could be the first to debut without a port. But a lot would have to go right for that statement to come true.

Still, the point is that Lightning ports may be out for now and even for upcoming iPhones. But Apple's phone future is portless, and MagSafe looks like it will be the technology that will help make that happen.