Technology
Apple releases USB-C Apple Watch charger
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
- Apple now sells an Apple Watch charger with a USB-C connector
at the other end. - This adds credence to the rumors that Apple’s upcoming iPad
Pro models might ditch Apple’s proprietary Lightning connector
for the USB-C standard. - Apple is expected to launch new iPads on October 30 in
Brooklyn, New York.
Apple quietly started selling a charging cable for the Apple
Watch that uses a USB-C connector.
This could hint at one of the biggest rumors about Apple’s
upcoming iPads: that they could be equipped with a USB-C port,
instead of Apple’s proprietary Lightning charger.
Apple is widely expected to launch new iPad Pro models in Brooklyn on
October 30, when it has scheduled a launch event.
Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops already sport USB-C
connectors. The ports are symmetrical and smaller than the USB-A
ports that have been standard on most phones and laptops for the
past decades. They also support a lot of other nifty features,
like powering an external display.
If Apple wanted to make its iPad Pro more like a laptop,
including a USB-C port would be a logical move. It could enable
professional users to use specific accessories, like mice or
keyboards, if Apple wanted to support them.
And with Apple’s new USB-C charger for the Apple Watch, people
could conceivable charge their smartwatch from their iPad, too,
without an adapter. There are no officially licensed third-party
Apple Watch chargers.
Apple
There are a fair amount of rumors pointing to a USB-C iPad Pro,
although the move would be a break from tradition for Apple,
which prefers to use its proprietary charger on its iOS phones
and tablets.
In September, well-connected TF International Securities analyst
Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that Apple’s new iPad Pro would come with
a
USB-C connector for input and output.
Earlier this week, accessory makers at a trade fair in Hong Kong
said that they expect the upcoming iPad Pro to have USB-C instead
of Lightning, according
to MacOtakara, a Japanese Apple blog. So it’s entirely
possible that Apple could equip the new iPads thought to come out
this month with a new kind of connector, making them more like a
laptop.
However, Apple still includes an
older USB-A iPhone charger with new iPhones, so the
transition to next-generation USB-C isn’t complete yet.
Business Insider will cover all of Apple’s announcements as they
happen on October 30.
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