This rumour was revealed in a piece by author Mark Gurman in his well-liked Power On weekly on Bloomberg. He claims in the newsletter that Apple has been preparing for the potential that the European Union may impose a single charging standard in order to increase interoperability and lessen environmental waste brought on by charger disposal.
Since 2024, every smartphone, tablet, and camera sold in the European Union must include a USB Type-C charging connection, under a recently enacted law. Since Apple now uses the Lightning standard for its iPhone and a large portion of its iPad lineup, this is only anticipated to have a substantial impact on Apple. The majority of Android devices currently adhere to the USB Type-C standard, making them compliant with future legislation.
This suggests that the iPhone series will move away from the present Lightning charging method sooner rather than later because new Apple iPhone devices must feature USB Type-C connections in order to be sold in Europe starting in 2024. Even if Apple's AirPods and Mac accessories are exempt from European regulation, the Power On newsletter speculates that the company may have a plan in place to transition them to the new standard concurrently.
The goal of this is to improve interoperability even within the Apple ecosystem; the same socket and charging cord will function with iPhone, iPad, AirPods, and Mac accessories. Despite this, Apple has made it clear that it would strongly promote wireless charging for all of its products moving ahead, with the potential of eventually releasing an iPhone without a charging port.
The Lightning standard is used for electrical charging in many Apple products, including the iPhone line and more recent AirPods variants like the AirPods Pro (2nd Gen). However, they also support Apple's MagSafe technology for safe attachment to the wireless charger and Qi wireless charging.