Rumors about a portless iPhone aren’t new. By the time Apple released the iPhone 6, there were rumors and concepts about one in development. Then, when the company removed the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and several ports from its MacBook models, it felt like a matter of time until a portless iPhone would come to life.
Still, a decade has passed, and we have no signs of this phone being released. Now that Apple has ditched the Lightning connector for USB-C, the natural next step would be a portless iPhone. However, will Apple ever release it?
In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman says Apple wanted to make this phone. He writes: “An even bigger idea was to make the Air device Apple’s first completely port-free iPhone. That would mean losing the USB-C connector and going all-in on wireless charging and syncing data with the cloud. The world is probably ready for this change.”
However, Apple feared facing scrutiny from EU regulators. The journalist continued: ” Apple ultimately decided not to adopt a port-free design with the new iPhone, which will still have a USB-C connector. One major reason: There were concerns that removing USB-C would upset European Union regulators, who mandated the iPhone switch to USB-C and are scrutinizing the company’s business practices.”
That said, Apple hasn’t scrapped this idea. The company thought the upcoming iPhone 17 Air would be a perfect match for becoming the first portless iPhone. Still, it might save this change for an upcoming model.
In the newsletter, Gurman reveals the importance of the iPhone 17 Air for Apple and how it could help the company shape its upcoming phones, from the long-rumored foldable iPhone to revamped versions of the iPhone Pro models.
BGR will let you know once we learn more about Apple’s plans for a future portless iPhone.
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