Is Apple Really Going To Ditch All Ports On The 2021 iPhone?

leading Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed today that Apple is readying a high end iPhone with no charging ports for 2021. No Lightning, no USB-C and presumably no holes at all.

Now there are some glaring red flags with this particular claim – how does Apple support fast charging or CarPlay, how does it perform device diagnostics in repair and how does it connect to third party accessories without some kind of port?

Wireless technologies are good, but they generally come at some cost. Bluetooth headphones are more expensive, have lower quality audio performance and are rendered useless when the battery dies. Qi charging is slower than a wired connector and difficult to achieve on the go or when you need to use the phone. Wireless CarPlay exists, but in so few cars that it might as well not exist. Even if newer cars rapidly increase their rate of adoption customers with older cars will be unable to join the fun if they have a port-free iPhone.

However, its not inconceivable that Apple has a plan to work around this issue. We've seen magnetically connected charging cables which don't require an opening in the phone body before – the Xperia Z1 – Z3 range for example. Adding data to a similar connection can't be the most difficult thing in the world. So all of these issues can be resolved using a new cable type which attaches to the body of the iPhone without need to be plugged into.

Apple gets an opening free chassis and the customer gets to enjoy the benefits of wired connections when necessary. It's a win-win.

Of course it also renders all of an Apple customers Lightning cables obsolete and requires them to buy a whole new set. Which isn't exactly a problem for Apple, more of an opportunity. Especially given the way Apple cables disintegrate in a ridiculously short amount of time.