On September 12, Apple will unveil the iPhone 15 and for the first time since the iPhone 5 arrived in 2012, it won’t have a Lightning port. Instead, it will sport USB-C, the Lightning-like standard that’s already on Macs and iPads. And now a new report claims Apple won’t waste time in switching its other remaining devices to USB-C as well.
According to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, Apple is planning to “introduce updated AirPods at the event that include a USB-C charging port.” He doesn’t elaborate on what that means, but presumably the charging case for the AirPods and AirPods Pro would get a quiet update. Back in 2021, Apple launched a new AirPods Pro case with MagSafe alongside the 3rd-generation AirPods to keep the line uniform.
Gurman doesn’t say whether the AirPods Max will get an update alongside the charging cases. Apple’s high-end headphones haven’t been updated since they debuted in December 2020, and they are missing several newer AirPods Pro features, including the H2 chip, 2X active noise cancellation, and adaptive transparency.
Apple’s ‘Wonderlust’ event kicks off at 10am PT on September 12 and is expected to see the launch of the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 alongside the new AirPods.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor
Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.