In September 2012, Apple launched the iPhone 5 — it was greater, sooner, and extra highly effective than its predecessor, however maybe probably the most revolutionary change was the way you charged it. Onstage to introduce the brand new cellphone, Apple advertising chief Phil Schiller introduced that the corporate was switching from the 30-pin connector that had been on each iPhone to this point over to a small new port referred to as Lightning. Lightning appeared to be all the things its predecessor and rivals weren’t: reversible, compact, and strong. Schiller referred to as it “a modern connector for the next decade.”

Fast ahead to 2022, and the connector has lasted the last decade Schiller promised. Every iPhone nonetheless comes with a Lightning cable, and the cable stays a dependable methodology for charging units and connecting to equipment and automobiles. But as Lightning approaches its tenth birthday, I, and plenty of others, are prepared for Apple to shut the ebook on this connector and introduce a sea change in how we cost our telephones. It’s not as a result of Lightning’s technically outdated; it’s as a result of one other port has outdone it in a single key space — ubiquity.

To be clear, Lightning was — and nonetheless is — an excellent connector. The port was revolutionary in comparison with all the things else in the marketplace on the time. The 30-pin connector was massive, and Micro USB ports have been finicky and laborious to plug in. By distinction, the Lightning port was each small and not possible to mess up, a method so apparent it’s a surprise it took so lengthy for anybody to get there. Apple’s rivals out of the blue had an obstacle when it got here to charging, information syncing, and general cellphone comfort.

The Lightning connector was technically adept, too. Even as we speak, the port stays fully succesful for a way most of us use our telephones — it will probably cost trendy iPhones from lifeless to 50 p.c battery in round half an hour; with the precise cable, you’ll be able to plug a set of headphones into it; and it’ll even carry a 1080p video sign. It’s capable of obtain USB 3.0 speeds, too, even when that hasn’t been broadly supported. I can’t truly consider something I must do with my cellphone that Lightning can’t do. That’s not often the case for connector requirements which have been round for a decade — certain, requirements like XLR and the three.5mm headphone jack (what’s lifeless could by no means die) have been round for means longer, however in addition they don’t do almost as a lot as Lightning.

Photo: Mitchell Clark / The Verge

But for all its strengths, there’s one factor Apple’s connector isn’t: common. In 2022, most of our units use a reversible, versatile port to cost and join — and it’s not Lightning. USB-C is on mainly each Android cellphone, and it’s more and more the default port for varied devices like GoPros and sport consoles. Even Apple makes use of it because the premiere connector for all of its MacBooks and almost all of its iPads.

These days, vanishingly few units truly use Lightning. You’ll discover it on the iPhone, one mannequin of iPad (for now), and a handful of equipment, comparable to Apple’s Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, and AirPods. That means when you personal an iPad Air and an iPhone, or a MacBook and a Magic Mouse, or a Windows laptop computer and a pair of AirPods, you’ll want at the very least two separate chargers to energy them.

Is that the largest problem on the planet? Of course not. But it creates a bunch of little inconveniences whenever you’re touring or round associates with USB-C-equipped telephones and even simply sitting on the a part of the sofa the place solely your laptop computer charger reaches. (Okay, that final one could be a me drawback.)

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Apple is planning on introducing USB-C to the iPhone lineup with the upcoming iPhone 14. But regulators may find yourself forcing Apple’s hand into eliminating Lightning on the telephones sooner slightly than later. The EU is within the course of of creating USB-C the legally mandated charging customary for telephones. Apple may all the time promote a USB-C cellphone in Europe and a Lightning one in all places else, however it’s powerful to think about that Apple’s continued income lower from third-party Lightning equipment would make up for the additional price and complexity of promoting the iPhone with two totally different ports.

Recent rumors have prompt that Apple’s 2023 iPhones will embrace USB-C as a response to the EU’s laws. That would put Apple a couple of 12 months forward of the proposed fall 2024 deadline, which is smart — if the corporate needs to proceed its customary working process of constant to promote the earlier 12 months’s telephones, these would additionally need to have USB-C. Adding the connector to the iPhone 15 would let Apple proceed to promote it with none points after it launches the iPhone 16, probably round fall 2024.

I do remorse to let you know, although, that Apple could possibly skirt across the EU’s legal guidelines by ditching a bodily port fully and going all in on MagSafe wi-fi charging, as ever-present rumors recommend it might. That could be, for my part, a means worse possibility than simply switching to USB-C — it has quite a lot of the identical downsides, like forcing individuals to improve outdated tools and cables, doubtlessly resulting in a spike in e-waste and only a few upsides for customers. But both means, it appears Lightning’s reign is approaching its finish.

If the iPhone was actually the one gadget I used, I wouldn’t be in any hurry to see the Lightning connector off — I plug my cellphone in to cost, take heed to music, or sync to my automotive a number of instances a day, and it’ll probably do an ideal job at these duties for an additional decade to come back. But I, like many different individuals, use many different units, all of which depend on USB-C. My iPhone, AirPods, trackpad, and Apple TV distant have turn out to be gentle inconveniences to cost in a sea of units that concentrate on making my life as a client simpler.

It’s not like Apple ought to be ashamed of Lighting; it’s lasted for what counts as an eternity within the smartphone market and influenced different producers to maneuver to a normal that’s each aggressive and handy. Apple can each be happy with the work it’s achieved and notice it’s time to maneuver on — and when somebody spends over $86,000 only for the novelty of proudly owning an iPhone modified to have USB-C, it’s undoubtedly time to maneuver on.