Apple may ruin USB-C on the iPhone 15 unless you pay up — here's how

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Apple goes after the cable, and not the port

iPhone 15 Ultra
(Image credit: Future)

The Apple vs EU spat has gone on for many months, and while it looks like the Cupertino chums are following the Unions rules with the iPhone 15’s USB-C port, they have another trick up their sleeve to stay at least a little petty.

This leak comes from leaker Majin Bu on X, who revealed that while there will be a USB-C connector on the iPhone 15 (duh), the included cable will be limited to just USB 2.0 data and charging speeds — the exact same as Lightning.

Stay petty

Testing this new 1.6-meter braided cable, Bu found out that in spite of having the connector to support faster data and charging speeds, the included cable is only capable of a 480 Mbps data transmission speed.

However, before you fear that Apple has completely killed any faster speeds, there are a couple of possible things at play here. A little bit of marketing mischief if you will.

iPhone 15 Pro

(Image credit: 9to5Mac)

The first is that the company may be keen to sell you a Thunderbolt cable to unlock the full capabilities of that port, such as the $39 Thunderbolt 3 wire. It’s a bit of scheming from Apple here, but it is an option.

The other scenario could be that the faster Thunderbolt may end up being limited to the iPhone 15 Pro models. We reported recently on this ultra speedy standard coming to the iPhone, as ChargerLAB spotted the chip making it possible in the phone’s USB-C connector. Looking towards the iPad lineup, that would fall in line with Apple’s M/O, as the iPad Pro is the only model that has full Thunderbolt support.

Outlook

It’s all a bit up in the air at the moment, until we get concrete info at Apple’s September event, but if true, there is some odd trickery going on here.

I mean sure, the Thunderbolt cable is going to be more costly to produce for every iPhone 15 box, but through the sheer force of a multi-trillion dollar company, I’m sure that cost can be absorbed into the price of the phone — especially given that said prices may be going up.

Time will tell what happens, but hopefully Apple gives you everything you need to make the most of your shiny new iPhone.

Jason England
Jason England
Content Editor

Jason brought a decade of tech and gaming journalism experience to his role as a writer at Laptop Mag, and he is now the Managing Editor of Computing at Tom's Guide. He takes a particular interest in writing articles and creating videos about laptops, headphones and games. He has previously written for Kotaku, Stuff and BBC Science Focus. In his spare time, you'll find Jason looking for good dogs to pet or thinking about eating pizza if he isn't already.