Apple rumored to be switching its Mac accessories to USB-C early in 2024

So long, Lightning

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The iPhone 15 made the switch to USB-C this year, but the Lightning port lives on with several Mac accessories. The latest rumor is that these accessories will get updated with USB-C ports in the first half of next year.

This is according toInstant Digitalon Chinese social media site Weibo (via9to5Mac), and “spring 2024” is mentioned. We’re assuming that means spring in the northern hemisphere, so March, April, or May.

The tipster mentions theAppleMagic Mouse, the Magic Keyboard, and the Magic Trackpad, though we don’t get much information beyond that – it’s possible that the switch to USB-C will be the one and only change with the refresh.

Once that happens, there won’t be many Apple products left with the Lightning port. The company still says older iPhones of course, and as ouriPhone SE 3 reviewwill tell you, that phone has a Lightning port on the bottom of it as well.

A special event?

Another rumorearlier this week suggested that new iPad Air, iPad Pro, and MacBook Air models – all powered by Apple’s own M3 chip – could be launching in March, April, or May as well, so it sounds as if there could be quite a lot of new hardware on show.

Apple has launched products in March in the past, though it didn’t this year. This year we had theApple M2 chipsand some associated Mac computer refreshes announced in January, with nothing then untilWWDC2023 in June.

What remains to be seen is whether we’ll get a full event that gets live streamed over the web – likewe did in March 2022, when products including the Mac Studio were announced – or whether Apple will content itself with a flurry of press releases instead.

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It makes sense for Apple to slowly phase out the use of Lightning, though we’ll never know if the iPhones would have stuck with the port if it wasn’tfor European Union regulations. It seems Apple’s flagship accessories are next in line.

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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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