Lightning charging cables may soon be a thing of the past quicker than we thought. Recent reports have claimed that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) plans to ditch the charging plug and port on their new, high-end iPhone models in 2021.
Ming-Chi Kuo, a top Apple analyst from TF International Securities, reported that Apple is aiming to further differentiate the more expensive iPhone models from standard models. The company already makes wireless charging docks for iPhone 8s and higher. Kuo believes that Apple is going for a "completely wireless experience" for their phones.
There have been many concept plans before about portless phones, but nothing was concrete. The high-end iPhone that Kuo believes will come out in 2021 might be the first to put the cable-free idea into production. If this truly does become the case, it is unclear how people will charge their phones. Again there are charging docks out there like Apple charging pad and Qi wireless charging pad that's sold on Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), but it isn't certain how people will acquire this. It isn't certain if charging pad will come with the new iPhone consumers purchase or will customers have to buy charging pads separately. Apple did not respond to a request for a comment to Kuo's report.
Kuo also claimed that Apple will release several new iPhones next year. A 4.7 inch iPhone model would release the first half of the year while four 5G versions would release in the second half of 2020. Apple is always changing and revamping their products. The iPhone 7 was the first iPhone model to no longer have a headphone jack in 2016. However, the move to get rid of the lightning cable on some models would be a significant change. This is something the company has to be careful with since iPhones remain Apple's biggest source of revenue. If the company does decide to go with this change, only time will tell if the decision works out.