I waited OK for the iPhone 13. The expected fall (in September or October), Apple’s next iPhone made more sense to me than buying a new iPhone. I just bought the iPhone 11 Pro Max in 2019. Do I need it anytime soon?
Or at least that was my opinion until a certain persistent rumor continued to bubble to the surface. That rumor? That at least one iPhone of 2021 has no charging port.
We reported on the rumors of the death of Lightning Harbor, as it is rumored by everyone, from the widely respected Ming-Chi Kuo to Jon Prosser. Heck, reporting on Apple’s willingness to remove the port goes back to the iPhone X, as trusted Mark Gurman told Bloomberg that Apple wants to remove the port for the 2017 phone.
But during a moment when I was particularly susceptible to retail therapy, I saw the rumor again. And this time it was in video on my TV. YouTuber Rene Ritchie’s “Portless iPhone 13” video ended up on the home screen of my YouTube app, and it was just as compelling as any other. And that worried me about what would happen if Apple did indeed take out the Lightning port.
Ritchie built on MKBHD’s logic about Apple’s removal of features by saying that it solved a problem and justified their decision to remove a feature. This happened with the home button (for larger screen space) and replaced it with the convenience of Face ID. This happened again with the headphone jack so you could have more water resistance – and the success of AirPods and AirPods Pro shows that Apple has a sense of what people wanted.
Of course, we can explain why they want to turn off the Lightning gate. This is a point of water penetration, and it can lead to corrosion. If you remove it, Apple may open a larger battery inside or do something else. As Gurman told MKBHD, the space can be used for a fingerprint reader on the screen.
But it was all known. And then Ritchie adds two words: “photography underwater.” That you’ll get even more water resistance, and that Apple’s camera gurus have solved the computer tricks for taking pictures underwater.
And that’s when I started looking at the iPhone 12
I’m not ready for a download port iPhone. Why? To begin with, it will probably be slower than wired. The newly added MagSafe drawer is a neat alternative to wired drawers, but wow it’s really slow.
And secondly, and more importantly, I rely on some of the best portable chargers – and I do not want to buy new ones. I have a charger in every bag I own, so I always have a way to refuel if I forgot to put my iPhone in when I went to bed the night before.
That’s why I do not want the charging port (and Apple looks like it’s dead to bring USB-C to the iPhone) to disappear. What, are Apple going to give away MagSafe-to-Lightning adapters?
I’ve already seen Anker and other companies sell MagSafe power chargers, which can easily sound on the back of your phone, like the existing wallet. It makes sense to take the ropes out of the equation when using an iPhone, at the same time as it draws power from a portable charger. But it asks you to throw away accessories and buy new ones – which conflicts with Apple’s recent messages, when it announced it would remove the power adapter from the iPhone 12 box to reduce waste.
So I bought the iPhone 12 Pro Max
Although I know the iPhone 12 Pro Max would drop in price this fall, I ordered it as soon as I processed the above thoughts.
Why? Partly it’s because I want better photos and that retail therapy really is. But the big reason I did not want to wait is that if I were to use it for a while, I would rather get used to the larger size of 6.7 inches than this fall.
I do not think I can wait for Apple, because it might bring back charging ports one day. It’s not like the new rumor of a MacBook Pro with MagSafe and no touchbar (though I feel fair to wait to buy a new MacBook until they get rid of the “butterfly” switch design). Instead, I want to wait for the iPhone 13 and later to the point where the third-party accessory market has been adapted for this portless iPhone.
And since I’m part of the iPhone Upgrade program, today it feels like a better plan to pay monthly amounts for a better phone than replacing a bunch of accessories in the future. Plus, I have it easy. I feel bad for people with a Lightning-based CarPlay connection, as some cars do not yet allow wireless CarPlay. Apple’s change, if the rumors come true, will have a wide ripple effect across the industry.