We’re about a week or two away from the launch of the iPhone 15 series. While it’s already been leaked into oblivion, we weren’t sure of how Apple will implement USB Type C.
We can assume Apple is moving to USB C thanks to new rules from the European Union. However, Lightning was supposed to be Apple’s standard for ten years, and Apple introduced this port in 2013. Regardless of intervention from the European Union, Apple would’ve probably made the switch.
We saw the early signs of this in 2018 when the Pro iPad lineup got USB Type C. A few MacBook models got it before, proving that Apple was attempting to standardize a single port across its entire portfolio. If the European Union didn’t step in, Apple would’ve probably gone portless in a few years.
There are several benefits of using a standard port. It’s cross-compatible with other devices, and you can conveniently charge your other devices using the same cable or adapter. You don’t have to find multiple dongles or carry about a combination of various cables and adapters to charge your devices.
Moving to USB Type C also has the benefit of slightly faster charging. Apple’s charging speeds are nowhere near the current industry standard. However, the 15 Pro and Max could get up to 35W of somewhat faster charging. We assume this will take the phones from 0% to 50% in about 20 or 25 minutes. Unfortunately, we can’t tell if the vanilla model and the Plus will get the same.
According to Majin Bu on X, the iPhone 15 series will not ship with a cable supporting high data transfer speeds. There were reports earlier that the Pro iPhone models will support Thunderbolt USB C speeds, but there isn’t any confirmation yet. They apparently have the Retimer chip to enable Thunderbolt speeds.
However, Apple could still limit the speeds to USB Type C 3.1 or 3.2. Apple already has these Thunderbolt for the iPad Pro line and some MacBook models.
The cables in the box are apparently braided and 1.5m in length. There are several images online that Apple will match the color of the cable to the color of the phone. This is a neat design touch. The report says the cables are much thicker and more durable.
However, they only support a max transfer speed of 480mbps. This is the same transfer speed as the old lightning port. Despite shipping with USB C, Apple isn’t fully utilizing the port, if this rumor is true. This is similar to Samsung limiting the cable’s maximum charging Wattage to 25W, despite the S23 Ultra supporting 45W.
It’s worth noting that the report mentions the speeds of only the cable in the box. We do not yet know the actual speeds of the ports for these iPhones. If the ports support a higher speed, we must buy a separate cable for faster speeds. The leaks also do not specify whether the Pro models will feature the same cable and data transfer speeds.
There’s also a possibility that these color-matching cables are not for the iPhone. Instead, they could be for the Apple Magic keyboard. There’s also a chance that Apple will let all the models’ ports support Thunderbolt speeds but then make you buy a separate cable to experience those speeds. Thankfully, The charging speeds are upgrading to 35W on the Pro models.
