In September 2012, Apple launched the iPhone 5 — it was greater, quicker, and extra highly effective than its predecessor, but maybe essentially the most revolutionary change was the way you charged it. Onstage to introduce the brand new telephone, Apple advertising chief Phil Schiller introduced that the corporate was switching from the 30-pin connector that had been on each iPhone thus far 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 sturdy. Schiller referred to as it “a contemporary connector for the following decade.”

Quick ahead to 2022, and the connector has lasted the last decade Schiller promised. Each iPhone nonetheless comes with a Lightning cable, and the cable stays a dependable methodology for charging gadgets and connecting to equipment and vehicles. But as Lightning approaches its tenth birthday, I, and plenty of others, are prepared for Apple to shut the e-book 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 It’s not as a result of Lightning’s technically outdated; it’s as a result of one other port has outdone it in a single key space — ubiquity.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 giant, and Micro USB ports have been finicky and arduous to plug in. Against this, the Lightning port was each small and inconceivable to mess up, a formulation so apparent it’s a marvel it took so lengthy for anybody to get there. Apple’s rivals instantly had a drawback when it got here to charging, information syncing, and general telephone comfort.

The Lightning connector was technically adept, too. Even in the present day, the port stays fully succesful for the way most of us use our telephones — it may cost trendy iPhones from lifeless to 50 p.c battery in round half an hour; with the fitting cable, you may 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 telephone that Lightning can’t do. That’s not normally the case for connector requirements which have been round for a decade — positive, requirements like XLR and the three.5mm headphone jack (what is lifeless could by no means die) have been round for approach longer, but in addition they don’t do practically as a lot as Lightning.

Photograph: Mitchell Clark / The Verge

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

As of late, vanishingly few gadgets truly use Lightning. You’ll discover it on the iPhone, one mannequin of iPad (for now), and a handful of equipment, resembling Apple’s Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, and AirPods. Which means should you personal an iPad Air and an iPhone, or a MacBook and a Magic Mouse, or a Home windows laptop computer and a pair of AirPods, you’ll want at the least two separate chargers to energy them.

Is that the most important trouble on this planet? In fact not. Nevertheless it creates a bunch of little inconveniences once you’re touring or round mates 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 downside.)

Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be 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 fairly 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 telephone in Europe and a Lightning one in every single place else, but it’s robust 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.

Latest rumors have steered that Apple’s 2023 iPhones will embrace USB-C as a response to the EU’s laws. That might put Apple a couple of yr forward of the proposed fall 2024 deadline, which is sensible — if the corporate needs to proceed its customary working process of continuous to promote the earlier yr’s telephones, these would additionally should have USB-C. Including the connector to the iPhone 15 would let Apple proceed to promote it with none points after it launches the iPhone 16, seemingly round fall 2024.

I do remorse to let you know, although, that Apple might be able to 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 might be, in my view, a approach worse choice than simply switching to USB-C — it has plenty of the identical downsides, like forcing individuals to improve previous gear and cables, probably resulting in a spike in e-waste and only a few upsides for shoppers. But both approach, 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 telephone in to cost, hearken to music, or sync to my automotive a number of instances a day, and it’ll seemingly do an incredible job at these duties for one more decade to return. But I, like many different individuals, use many different gadgets, all of which depend on USB-C. My iPhone, AirPods, trackpad, and Apple TV distant have turn out to be delicate inconveniences to cost in a sea of gadgets that target making my life as a client simpler.

It’s not like Apple must 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 is each aggressive and handy. Apple can each be pleased 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 positively time to maneuver on.