I’ve never been much of an Apple guy. The only Apple product I’ve personally owned was a used Mac Mini that I bought just so I could be a little more knowledgeable about helping people troubleshoot Mac problems. But when the European Union said that Apple had to ditch their custom charging port and make it “Common Charger” USB-C port, I feel like Apple missed a golden opportunity.
As recently as today, Apple is being told this could be a reality in the United States as well.
In my opinion, this would have been the perfect chance for Apple to open-source their port design and make it freely available for all competitors. Samsung and Google could opt to use the port or not, making Apple’s move much less user hostile, and giving them an excellent method to dodge sanctions by law makers.
That being said, The Verge predicted nearly 9 months ago that Apple might skip right past USB-C and go with a completely port-less design.
It would definitely be interesting to see a USB-C capable iPhone… imports for this “Global” variants will be off the charts in the US if it comes true, I have no doubt. While I still argue it is a missed opportunity to not release their lightning port for all to copy, it could be interesting to see if Apple thumbs their nose at charging and data ports altogether and does go with a truly wireless design.