iPhone 18 May Feature Zero Ports, Thanks To A Loophole In EU Legislation

The iPhone 17 Air has been tipped to be the thinnest iPhone ever and a new report has also indicated that Apple had actually considered making the 17 Air to be the first portless iPhone.

The report also revealed that Apple eventually decided against this move - partially because it feared backlash by the EU over removing the USB-C port.

According to a 9To5Mac report, EU has seemingly confirmed that dropping the USB-C port to a fully portless design will be legal and can be implemented.

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It is common knowledge that Apple - a trillion dollar company - was forced to change their proprietary lightning port in exchange for a more ergonomically superior Type-C port so they could comply with the European Union's environment legislation - specifically the Common Charger Derivative.

What is the Common Charger Directive

The EU had issued concerns about needless electrical waste when manufacturers were using different charging ports for different devices. This caused users to get multiple chargers which in turn caused more electrical waste. The bloc hence directed all devices which were sold in the European market to utilize a common charging port.

Interestingly, when the legislation was proposed, the standard charging port was the god-awful micro-usb. Thankfully, by the time the law was finalized, the USB-C had become the new standard. Hence now every phone has the USB Type-C port.

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Apple already used USB-C charging for Macs and iPads but was stuck on the Lightning for the iPhone. The new legislation directed Apple to switch to Type-C USB for the iPhones as well.

EU gave Apple a deadline of January 2025 to stop selling the Lightning iPhones and Apple then ceased the sales of the iPhone 14 and iPhone SE - the only two iPhones available with the Lightning cable.

According to a Bloomberg report, Gurman stated Apple had considered dropping ports from the iPhone 17 Air but considered not doing it - mostly because of the EU legislation which had made them switch to USB Type-C in the first place.

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