Top Analyst Claims Apple iPad Pro To Ditch Lightning For USB-C

One of the things that annoys lots of people about Apple and its products is the company's reliance on proprietary charging tech. While many tablets and smartphones use a standard USB port for charging, Apple relies on the proprietary Lightning port. Noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has stepped up on the eve of Apple's event with some last-minute predictions. One of his predictions is that Apple will be ditching the Lighting connector on the 2018 iPad Pro and moving to the more common USB-C interface.

Kuo isn't clear if that USB-C port will be usable for anything other than charging the iPad Pro. According to the analyst, the move from Lightning to USB-C will be the main update for the new iPad Pro along with Face ID support. The bundled power adapter will be a unibody design with 18W of power. Kuo says that the new iPhones will retain the Lightning port and continue to come with a 5W power adapter, not the rumored 18W USB-C unit.

Kuo also expects a new lower-priced MacBook will debut with support for Touch ID fingerprint authentication to replace the current 12-inch MacBook. The new machine will mark the first time a new Apple supplier has stepped into the supply chain with a company called Everwin Precision making the casing for this notebook. Kuo also predicts some changes for the Apple Watch Series 4 line.

He states that most of the watches in the line will have ceramic backs with the GPS-only Series 3 being the only device with a composite back. According to Kuo, the big draw for the new Apple Watch will be support for ECG. Another tidbit is that Kuo's sources tell him that the delays with the 6.1-inch iPhone LCD model mean that production will move to late September or early October. The delays are reportedly due to quality issues with assembly and the display claim the sources.