The next iteration of the Apple iPhone is set to feature at least one major change to its design, an Aussie tech guru has confirmed after early models leaked.
Despite there still being months until Apple announces its announcing its newest iPhone model, “dummy models” of the upcoming iPhone 15 – and accompanying Plus, Pro, and Pro Max models – have emerged and seem to confirm a long-anticipated change to its features.
It seems Apple is phasing out its Lightning Connector on the new phone, which will instead feature a USB-C port.
If the dummies come to life, this will be the first change to the Apple charging cable since 2012, when the company introduced the iPhone 5 and changed the original 30-pin connector to the 8-pin Lightning port.
And tech reporter Trevor Long, who leaked the dummy models to his YouTube channel, said there is no reason to believe they would not be accurate, given their “history”.
“For many years I’ve been getting these dummies. I can’t even remember when the first one was,” he said.
He then held up two stacks of models for the camera, saying they were “all from the last six years, and they’ve all been absolutely spot on”.
Long said a factory in China contacted him, like it had for years before, claiming to know what the iPhone 15 would look like and had produced a dummy version.
These dummies, he said, are not official Apple products, but are instead sent to case manufacturers in order to mass-produce iPhone 15 cases “ready for when the iPhone is announced in September”.
Long received four dummies, a standard iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max and compared them beside their iPhone 14 counterparts to notice a bevy of differences.
Some more subtle than others, and some applied across all iPhone 15 models, while others were exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.
But the most notable was the new USB-C charging port, which Long said he was “very confident” will feature on the new iPhone 15.
The change comes after 11 years of Apple being married to its proprietary Lightning Connector, even as every other smartphone designs – and some of its own products – adopted the USB-C port.
The bespoke Lightning Connectors made Apple and their iPhones an island in an increasingly user-centred and environmentally-conscious world.
Last year the European Union ruled that Apple must implement USB-C in all devices sold in Europe from 2024 onward, in a bid to reduce electronic waste and simplify the charging process for tech users – Apple or not.
Apple has yet to announce its plans for an event in September for the iPhone, but it’s expected to take place on or around September 7 Australian time.
If everything goes as expected, and based on previous years, the four models will be available for sale about a week later.