Apple haters love to claim that Cupertino swaps connectors out like changing pants, which is objectively hilarious because the iPod/iPhone connector had changed only once until recently: from the legacy 30-pin connector to the proprietary-to-Apple Lightning plug introduced in 2012 on the iPhone 5.

Lighting was a great upgrade from the 30-pin because it was smaller, more robust, and symmetrical — it has no top or bottom, so you don’t have to do the plug-flipping thing that everyone hates. Winning, right?

USB-C then crept onto the scene, and it’s better at lots of things. Apple even adopted it for the higher-end iPad Pros in, I think, 2018. The EU, always eager to meddle in technical affairs, started yelling about phone plug compatibility at some point, but I suspect Apple was moving in the direction of plug unity even before the EU bureaucrats decided to impose technical choices on people who know better. Whatever.

The iPhone 15 from 2023 was the first model to move to a USB-C port, which truly signaled the end of the line for Lightning, but that shift comes at a time when all tech is lasting longer than it used to. And so that’s where the issue creeps in.

I love USB-C. I like that a huge chunk of my rechargeable devices now have the same port; that’s fun. Both the actively-used Macbooks in the house can charge by USB-C. Both iPads are USB-C. The helmet coms we have for the motorcycle? USB-C. The flashlight I use in my computer bag? USB-C. The air compressor we use to top up the tires in the vehicles? Same. My XBox headset? Yep.

BUT we do still have some outliers. A bunch of my bicycling tech is still on Micro-USB, which is annoying but fine. I suspect if I bought a new eTap charger or headlight, they’d be USB-C, and neither of those would be expensive.

HOWEVER there’s still some Lightning outliers on materially more expensive devices that are likely to last a long, long time.

• I have a full set of Apple peripherals that charge by Lightning: keyboard, Magic Mouse, and trackpad. They all work great. I subscribe to the notion that swapping peripherals out from time to time is a good way to avoid RSI, and so far it’s working. But those are all long-lived things, and a port change isn’t a good reason to replace any of them.

• We have 3 sets of Apple headphones in the house, and they’re all on Lightning, too. Erin prefers regular Airpods. I have Airpods Pro AND a first-gen Airpods Max. The pocketable earbuds could get lost and force a replacement at any point, but the Max are expensive and live a fairly cushy life. They, like my peripherals, could easily last for years and years.

• Oh, and our phones are both still Lightning, and still work GREAT. My iPhone 14 Pro was replaced under AppleCare last fall after a motorcycle mount mishap, so at this point I have a 6 month old phone. There’s nothing in the new phones that makes me want to spend stupid money to get new one. Erin’s deeply attached to her 12 Mini from 2022, a form factor they don’t make anymore. The newest iOS (26) dropped support for the iPhone X family; if they drop a generation a year, that means Erin’s phone will fall of support in 2 years, and mine in 4. Those are phone lifespans that seem ENTIRELY reasonable.

If I suddenly became a USB-C zealot, it’d cost literally thousands of dollars to replace all my existing Lightning kit. That would be stupid, so we’re left with an organic sunset plan — and that plan stretches out AT LEAST another 5 years by my guess.