Apple will reportedly switch all AirPods scenarios to USB-C in 2023

Lightning’s times appear to be numbered. The company’s iPad array, which has been shifting from Lightning to USB-C since 2018, is predicted to complete that changeover afterwards this calendar year and the Iphone variety will reportedly start its very own alter-in excess of in 2023.

But the Lightning regular isn’t confined to the Iphone and iPad, and uncertainties continue being around Apple’s options for the port on certain accessories–such as the AirPods charging situation. Every AirPods scenario introduced so much has showcased a Lightning port, but that could quickly change, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In a tweet posted this 7 days, the trustworthy analyst predicts that all AirPods types will get cases with a USB-C charging port in 2023.

What he is significantly less selected about is the second-gen AirPods Pro, which are envisioned to launch before the finish of 2022. That model, which has been rumored for extra than a year, could come too soon for the USB-C change-around, Kuo warns. His tweet indicates that Apple might start a new USB-C case for the Pros up coming yr, but it is debatable whether shoppers who buy this year will experience like paying out extra funds subsequent calendar year for a situation that functionally is not especially distinctive.

When Apple released the third-era AirPods last fall, it also up-to-date the AirPods Pro case with MagSafe charging with no modifying the earbuds.

A go to USB-C also raises even more concerns about a single member of Apple’s wi-fi headphone vary that charges instantly fairly than by using a situation: the AirPods Max.

These headphones also attribute a Lightning charging port created into a person of the ear cups–a charging port, incidentally, that on our evaluation sample is partially concealed by an ill-fitting cover. We suspect that Apple will swap this Lightning port with USB-C if and when it releases a second-gen variation of the AirPods Max.

Mark Gurman has predicted that Apple will launch new Max hues this slide, whether or not that is alongside the Iphone 14 in September or at a different Mac/iPad function the following month, but it’s unclear no matter whether that will be accompanied by any new attributes or the sort of broader redesign that could encompass a swap to USB-C.