IPhone 8 tipped to ditch Lightning
Apple may be about to extend USB-C to its smartphone
The iPhone 8 may be dropping Apple’s Lightning port for USB-C, according to a recent report from the WallStreetJournal. It states that the next iPhone will feature a “USB-C port for the power cord and other peripheral devices instead of the company’s original Lightning connector.”
Though this would be a surprising move from Apple considering it’s never been shy about the fact that its devices and peripherals have their own connection standards, it has precedence in Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Pro computers.
That said, the report doesn’t explicitly state that the USB-C port will be on the handset itself. It could mean Apple is planning to change the connector on its power adapters.
This would mean that rather than charging cables and plugs with USB-A to Lightning connectors, we could see USB-C to Lightning – Apple already sells cables of this kind.
An alternative scenario has been suggested by Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst with KGI Securities, whose past predictions have been largely accurate. “All three iPhones rumored to be launched in 2017 will retain Lightning connectors with the addition of USB-C Power Delivery for faster charging,” he said – the three phones likely being the iPhone 7S, 7S Plus and iPhone 8. According to the WallStreet
Journal’s sources, the iPhone 8 will drop the traditional Home button and replace it with a touch-sensitive function area that would behave something like the Touch Bar on the latest MacBook Pro.
The iPhone 8 is also expected to feature a curved edge-to-edge OLED display similar to those seen on Samsung’s Galaxy Edge smartphones, while the other iPhone models will retain the standard LCD displays.
We’ve heard several of these rumors already, which helps to add weight to the Journal’s report – and would mean the iPhone 8 is almost certainly the most expensive phone to come out of Cupertino to date.