At the presentation scheduled for September 12, Apple will introduce the iPhone 15, for the first time equipped with a standard USB connector, Bloomberg reports, so that you can charge your smartphone with a cord from any gadget. And the Chinese Huawei amazed experts with its own novelty Mate 60 Pro, creating a high-quality device under US sanctions.
Now all American Apple models have their own Lightning connector standards, which forces users to buy only branded chargers. Thanks to this, the corporation earns 3–$4 billion annually, but now, under pressure from the EU, which requires the unification of plugs and connectors on all gadgets, this income will have to be shared. If this happens, then the consumer will only benefit, believes Denis Kuskov, CEO of the information and analytical agency Telecom Daily.
“There are a lot of different gadgets, and having a separate cord for each of them is neither economical nor environmentally friendly, and just causes a lot of problems,” the expert says. “Therefore, in Europe, the process of unifying the connectors is already underway, and for the first time the new iPhone model will be equipped with a standard USB-C charging connector instead of the traditional Apple Lightning.”
True, no one has yet seen the iPhone 15 “in action”, and, knowing the marketing techniques of the Americans, it makes sense to wait for the presentation of this model for final conclusions. “It will still be necessary to evaluate compatibility in practice,” Denis Kuskov is cautious. – Sometimes chargers with an “apple” connector, released not by Apple itself, but by third-party companies, either did not work at all, or charged very slowly. The new iPhone 15 will definitely have a standard USB-C connector, but it is not yet clear whether it will be possible to charge the smartphone with a charger from another gadget, or whether only a certified, original cord will need to be used. We hope that compatibility will take place, which will allow users to reduce the number of wires and use one charge for all devices, ”the expert suggested.
Chinese giant Huawei responded with its own Mate 60 Pro model, which Bloomberg dubbed “mysterious” thanks to the high wireless speeds achieved by the Chinese, despite the corporation being blacklisted by the United States and being banned from supplying chips and equipment to it. American TechInsights even dismantled a new Chinese smartphone and was surprised to find in it a processor released by Chinese Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, which uses advanced 7nm SMIC technology.
In China itself, the novelty caused a real stir, by the end of 2023 the manufacturer expects to sell 5.5–6 million devices. For comparison, during the year of sales of the previous model, Mate 50 Pro, 2.5 million copies were sold.
“Demand is fueled by a surge of consumer patriotism, while there is nothing super-outstanding in this model,” Kuskov points out. – Most of all, the specialists were surprised by the very fast processor. It should be taken into account that the United States banned the supply of many components to China, and the release of the Mate 60 demonstrated that the Chinese were completely able to produce a very decent smartphone on their own and they no longer need the Americans for this. This is such a demonstration of Chinese technological power,” the expert explained.
In our country, new items will be available in late autumn – early winter, but they will not be cheap. “Both the iPhone 15 and Huawei Mate 60 Pro will enter our market quite quickly, within a few months after the launch of sales in other countries,” says Kuskov. “But the price will be quite high, you can focus on the ruble equivalent of $1,000 for models in the cheapest configuration,” the expert concluded.
