An iPhone 12 with USB-C would really help the environment — not a missing charger - Tom's Guide

During last week’s Apple’s iPhone 12 event, the Cupertino-based company was proud to tout its environmental initiatives.

According to Apple, there are currently 2 billion iPhone charging adapters out in the world, and that’s not including third-party ones.

But included with the iPhone 12 will be a USB Type-C to Lightning cable, making old adapters incompatible.

Of course, these users could use their old 5W adapters and Type-A to lightning cables as well.

But the new iPhone has fast charging, and for $19, users can upgrade to the latest charge adapters for speedy electrical fuel up.

Even the latest iPads and Macbooks currently use Type-C, so it’s not as if the connection standard is foreign to Apple.

If Apple had switched to Type-C, it could have allowed the existing ecosystem of cables and adapters to be folded into the iPhone 12.

Users with the new iPad or MacBook could roll over their existing charging accessories to keep iPhone 12s charged.

Android users jumping to iPhone could have continued to use the charging adapters included with their old phones.

And let’s not forget that Apple will still need to ship tiny Type-C power adapters across the world to accommodate the new cable included with the iPhone 12.

So, why has Apple chosen not to adopt Type-C for iPhone when the waste-saving advantages are seemingly obvious.

It’s hard to say exactly why Lightning remains, especially when Apple has already switched over to USB-C on iPad and Macbook, but one can surmise that with iPhone being Apple’s most popular product category, downstream accessory sales tied to lightning are powerful.

The financial incentive to switch to USB Type-C for iPhone 12 could rob Apple of the overwhelming gains from accessory sales.