Ports have been a fixture on mobile phones since their inception — dating all the way from the iPhone 12 back to «dumb phones» from decades …
Ports have been a fixture on mobile phones since their inception — dating all the way from the iPhone 12 back to «dumb phones» from decades before. But even when it comes to ports, Apple has done things its own way. In 2012, the company made its own accessories obsolete when it switched from a 30-pin connector to a proprietary Lightning port, and has since resisted from switching to a USB-C connector on iPhones even though it eventually became accepted as a universal standard. (There are Lightning-to-USB-C cables, however.) But if long-running industry rumors are to be believed, Apple is planning to kill the Lightning port on the iPhone, making way for a completely portless phone. One of the latest indications we’re moving closer to this port-free life is Apple’s introduction of MagSafe on the iPhone. Read more: The best phone to buy for 2020 The wireless charging system relies on an embedded array of magnets that snap the iPhone 12 onto a MagSafe puck. To charge your iPhone 12, rest it on the circular charging pad, then wait for the charging indicator on the screen to confirm it’s working. This eliminates the need for a Lightning connector, and while Apple kept the port on the iPhone 12, it did remove the wall adapter and wired earphones from its box. After the addition of MagSafe, a wireless future seems inevitable for the iPhone. It offers a glimpse into Apple’s vision where a cord-free iPhone accessory ecosystem is made possible by magnets, not ports. «Wireless technologies have reached a level of maturity where a portless device is much more viable than it’s ever been,» said Tuong Huy Nguyen, senior principal analyst at Gartner. Some Chinese phone-makers have also beaten Apple to the punch, launching portless phones of their own. And many examples of emerging tech, like VR headsets and smart glasses, are wireless too. Whether Apple will head down this path remains to be seen, but there are many reasons why the time is right for Apple to finally introduce a portless iPhone. Ports are a practical conduit for phones to deliver three key functions: charging, data transfer and audio output. Before adding MagSafe to its phones, Apple developed AirDrop and iCloud for data transferring. As for audio, Apple kicked off the mainstream trend of wireless earbuds in earnest when it introduced the first-gen AirPods in 2016. MagSafe is Apple’s answer to wireless charging for the iPhone 12. But to convince more people to live without a Lightning port, Apple needs to offer a wireless bridge for other wired accessories.
