Apple confirms it will leave Lightning behind in future iPhones
Enlarge / Current iPhones still use the Lightning port instead of the now-industry-standard USB-C. (credit: Samuel Axon)
An Apple executive publicly stated that the company plans to comply with a new European Union regulation that will require specific devices to have USB-C ports, confirming that the iPhone will soon adopt USB-C.
"Obviously, we'll have to comply," Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak told attendees at The Wall Street Journal Tech Live conference on Tuesday. He took an air of resignation about it, noting that the company still disagrees with the regulation. "We think the approach would have been better environmentally and better for our customers to not have a government be that prescriptive," he said.
On Monday, the EU gave final approval to a long-under-consideration common charger law that will require all devices within specific categories-smartphones included-to standardize on USB-C. Most devices have already gone that way, including Apple's MacBook and iPad lines, but the iPhone line has stuck with Apple's proprietary Lightning connection.