It’s loose-change-under-the-couch-cushion revenue by Apple’s astonishingly high standards. But I don’t think there’s serious money in that. And they’re glad to have control over all iPhone peripherals. Apple is happy to keep the money it earns from MFi, of course. Gartenberg summarizes a commonly-held theory here: that Apple is sticking with its proprietary Lightning port on iPhones because they profit from MFi peripherals. And Apple takes a cut of every one of those IPhone and which companies get to make them.Īpple’s MFi program means that if you want to plug anything intoĪn iPhone, be it charger or adapter or accessory, you have to go Over what kinds of hardware does (or doesn’t) get to exist for the
The iPhone, Apple-made or not - along with the control it has It makes from every Lightning cable and accessory that works with It also means that Apple would lose out on the revenue More e-waste (if you buy Apple’s logic) or inconvenience itsĬustomers. Notably absent from Apple’s argument, though, is the fact thatĬutting out a Lightning port on an iPhone wouldn’t just create Why Does the iPhone Still Use Lightning? Monday, 27 September 2021Ĭhaim Gartenberg, writing for The Verge, “ The Lightning Port Isn’t About Convenience It’s About Control”:
