Lightning - Still Alive?

iPhone 12 still has a lightning port. Apple has moved EVERYTHING to USB-C. iPads (even the basic ones; the Pro went USB-C a couple of years ago), the new HomePod mini. Even the new Beats Flex earphones are USB-C.

So the software for USB-C is ready (as the iPads prove). The accessories have gone USB-C. MacBooks are entirely USB-C. The iPhone12 is not.

How come?

I'm not really buying the story they make $$$ licensing the lightning connector. It is peanuts. They make more money by removing a power supply from the iPhone 12 box.

So why o why?

Perhaps it is as simple as moving to USB-C would delay the schedlue and iPhone 12 would not make it for the "holiday" season.

The other conspiracy theory is they want to get rid of any connector in iPhone 13, staying with [the new] MagSafe only. This may have legs, as they might have realized nowadays [most] people use the phone port for charging only. Files are synced from the cloud, sound went Bluetooth a while ago. That means a phone needs a cable only to charge and MagSafe can do that.

Stupid.

For two reasons. I do not mind having wireless charging as an option. But "been there, done that", I do not think this is as great as it sounds.

First of all, the wireless charging speed is SLOW. 7.5W standard, 15W Apple MagSafe. At the same time the cutting edge cable charging is 120W (8x Apple): 0-100% in 20 minutes.

Yes there are wireless chargers capable of even 55W. And they do work, but require special cooling fan to prevent the phone from melting...

The other reason why MagSafe-only is a stupid idea is charging on the go. Do we want to carry these big magnetic plates with us? Or do we want to sacrifice a significant amount energy stored in a powerbank to dissipate as heat while charging wirelessly?

I do not think Apple would be so stupid to go entirely connector - less with the iPhone. If that was the plan, the new MagSafe would include simple power delivery pins, to bypass all those energy - wasting coils. That leaves us with the first speculation - they (because of COVID?) were forced to optimize the delivery schedule and decided to move the USB-C feature to the next release of iPhone. And yes - it will be iPhone 13 or never, when we will see the USB-C connector. Let's just wait and see :)