The iPhone 15 and ‌iPhone 15‌ Professional’s USB-C port and accompanying charging cables will characteristic a Lightning-like authenticator chip, probably limiting their performance with Apple-unapproved equipment, a rumor shared on Weibo suggests.

The rumor declares that Apple has developed its personal variant of USB-C for this yr’s ‌iPhone 15‌ lineup and comes from a person who claims to be an built-in circuit knowledgeable with 25 years of expertise engaged on Intel’s Pentium processors.

Built-in circuit (IC) interfaces are semiconductor chips which can be used to regulate and handle the sharing of knowledge between units. Since their introduction in 2012, first-party and MFi-certified Lightning ports and connectors include a small chip that confirms the authenticity of the components concerned within the connection. Non-MFi-certified third-party charging cables, for instance, don’t characteristic this chip, usually resulting in “This accent shouldn’t be supported” warnings on linked Apple units.

The authenticator chip permits Apple to encourage prospects to purchase real iPhone peripherals and obtain a fee on MFi-certified equipment, however it additionally permits Apple to sort out counterfeit and harmful equipment.

The most recent rumor appears to recommend that Apple has developed an identical customized IC for the USB-C ports on the ‌iPhone 15‌ and ‌iPhone 15‌ Professional, and presumably its charging cables. In addition to the ‌iPhone 15‌ lineup, the brand new IC is outwardly destined for brand new MFi-certified peripherals.

It’s price noting that the USB-C interface at the moment utilized by Apple within the Tenth-generation iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Professional, don’t include an IC chip for authentication, that means that this is able to be a primary for ports of this sort supplied by the corporate.

It’s not clear if this addition may have any main implications for the performance of the brand new units, however it’s a chance that Apple may restrict options like quick charging and high-speed information switch to Apple and MFi-certified cables.

In keeping with Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the USB-C port on the ‌iPhone 15‌ and ‌iPhone 15‌ Plus will stay restricted to USB 2.0 speeds – the identical as Lightning. Solely the ‌iPhone 15‌ Professional and ‌iPhone 15‌ Professional Max fashions will apparently get quicker charging speeds. In consequence, the one main distinction between Lightning and USB-C on the usual ‌iPhone 15‌ fashions would be the bodily form of the connector.

The report is especially plausible since this is able to successfully mirror the break up between the entry-level ‌iPad‌ and the ‌iPad Professional‌. Whereas each ‌iPad‌ fashions characteristic a USB-C port, the Tenth-generation ‌iPad‌ is restricted to USB 2.0 speeds of as much as 480 Mbps, whereas the ‌iPad Professional‌ gives totally fledged Thunderbolt speeds as much as 40 Gbps.