Apple is the third largest smartphone company in the world after Samsung and Huawei interms of sales. Undoubtedly, iPhones are one of the most popular phones in the smartphone market right now with the latest release iPhone 11. And there’s a rumor spreading that in near future Apple is releasing iPhones without ports. So we may see portless iPhones in near future.
Apple has been using its proprietary Lightening Ports since September 2012, starting from iPhone 5. Before that, they used 30 pin dock connector. In case of Android, the micro USB port was upgraded to USB C. And most of us expected that iPhones will eventually use USB type C but according to the latest rumor we might not see any iPhone with USB type C port.
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Why I think there’ll be portless iPhones?
Apple has a record for doing bizarre things that end up being mainstream afterwards. There are a lot of things in past that makes it look like portless iPhones can be a thing in future. Here are some of the weird things Apple got away with and even got benefited by in some cases.
Removal of CD/DVD drive
Back in the days, Apple removed CD drive from the Macbooks. At that time many people thought that was not a good idea but lately there is no use of CD/DVD as USB has evolved to a great extent. In the market right now, we can rarely see laptops with a CD drive. They might be completely forgotten in future.
No USB type A, only USB C
We all know, in latest Macbooks, all the ports we get are USB C with or without thunderbolt and a headphone jack as well. For connectivity Macbook users need a dongle and with that inconvenience, Apple is still selling a good amount of Macbooks and has released a new 16 inch Macbook pro. Apple is getting benefited by selling dongles so there’s no need for them to give many ports to their users.
Removal of 3.5mm headphone jack
This is one of the major thing Apple got away with. Starting with iPhone 7, Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone. Of course, they stated their reasons but it was still very bold decision. This decision was also quite beneficial for Apple as it could sell it’s wireless AirPods. Afterwards every major smartphone company followed Apple and removed the headphone jack from their flagships. Samsung, who mocked Apple for removing the headphone jack also removed it when they released Note 10. Conveniently after the release of their wireless earbuds. Right now, headphone jacks are luxury for only mid range and budget smartphones.
Notch
Notch is another trend that Apple set up. The infamous notch started in iPhone 10 and was adopted by almost all of the smartphone companies in one way or another. Notch can be considered as the beginning of bezel less smartphones but the notch in iPhone is huge. Initially Apple was mocked for the huge notch but similar to the removal of the headphone jack, many smartphone companies adopted it. Afterwards Samsung introduced a punch hole display which is better compared to the notch but a notch can contain many hardware that can’t be contained by hole punch. That’s why iPhone has better facial recognition.
Lately there are many companies working on under display camera and we have seen some prototypes in news as well. But it will take quite some time for full screen display with cameras under the display to be mainstream since there is a lot to work on the matter.
Effects of removing the ports
- Wireless charging: First and foremost, the sector that will be affected by removal of ports is charging. Right now, the speed wireless charging is not comparable to that of wired charging. However, there is some progress on the speed as compared to that of early wireless chargers. For portless phones to work there should be crazy development on wireless charging speed.
- Wireless data transfer: Yes, no port means no connecting your phone with computer with a cable. So you’ll need internet or hotspot to transfer your data. Wireless data transfer is not as fast as well as not as safe as transfer through wire.
- Increased water resistance and dust resistance: As soon as the ports are removed water resistance and dust resistance of the device will naturally increase. This is one of the advantages of removing the ports.
So what are your thoughts on portless iPhones? If Apple is making portless iPhones when do you think they’ll release it? Leave your thoughts on comment section. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for daily updates.