One rumor that’s always going around the iPhone rumor-mill Is that Apple may be working on an iPhone that doesn’t have a Lightning port on it. I think we can all safely say that releasing a port-free iPhone would be a brave and bold move from the Cupertino-based technology company…but I’d be okay with it. I’d be really ok with it.
Here’s the thing: the amount of times that I actually plug my iPhone into a cable to charge is pretty rare. I do occasionally plug my iPhone into my MacBook to do a backup in case of emergencies, but more often than not, I do just trust the iCloud backup to be what I need. I’m very careful with phones and haven’t destroyed one yet (knock on wood).
The times that I do need to plug my iPhone into charge usually stem from falling asleep the night before watching a YouTube video in bed, waking up with my phone beside me. Then I look at the clock and realize that I don’t have time to get my phone up to at least the recommended charge level of 80%…so I grab a USB-C to Lightning cable and my iPad Pro charging brick and hope for the best while I get ready for the day. Those days are rare, but the still exist. I can’t say that they exist enough for me to make them more important than better ingress protection though.
For me, wireless charging has become a habit. At the end of the day when I get in bed, I twist off my PopSocket and place it on my nightstand next to my glasses before watching a few videos. When I’m ready to go to sleep, I sit my phone on the bedside wireless charger and let it do its thing.
I don’t think that a port-free iPhone is for everyone…at least not yet. I still think it’s something that Apple should look into integrating into its product line to get the general population ready for the inevitable day when it does happen.
Besides, this is Apple we’re talking about. I don’t think Apple would make an iPhone that charges only via Qi without doing something else. Whether that something else is Warp Charge like speeds on a proprietary Apple charger, a smart connector somewhere on the device that can deliver a lot of power and data, or an Apple Watch style inductive charger…they’ll have to do something.
Whatever they have planned, I’m curious to see. But in the meantime I’d love to see them announce the first portless iPhone so we can get a glimpse at one of the possible futures for where smartphone design will move in the coming years.
Dan Stransky 