Belkin doesn't plan to stop making Lightning cables any time soon

It’s been almost a year since Apple debuted USB-C on its iPhone 15 range of phones and ditched its proprietary Lightning connector, but according to Belkin’s Head of Product Management for Australia and New Zealand, Jamie Laing-Reece, there’s still plenty of customers buying the “classic” cable.

Laing-Reece told WhistleOut Belkin has seen a massive increase in demand for USB-C cables but also no decline in demand for Lightning cables which the company puts down to the fact that that Apple has still been shipping devices with Lightning cables for the last 10 years as well as devices that support Lightning.

Belkin was still selling 30-pin cables up until around two years ago. The situation in which USB-C has supplanted Lightning is similar with a wide range of Apple products having used 30-pin chargers, including iPhones, iPads, and iPods.

"I always think back to when [Apple] transitioned from the 30-pin to Lightning back in 2012. The outcome of that was this new awareness of the technology in Lightning but also a continued demand tail [for 30-pin chargers] that lasted years off the back of that change.

Laing-Reece expects the demand for Lightning charging cables and supported products will last for the next five to 10 years.

“Consumers will continue [to expect] support for those legacy connections for years to come. Ultimately, the most exciting part about it, is it gives us a really good opportunity to educate consumers on USB-C” said Laing-Reece.

“When it comes to Apple adopting the USB-C connector over the Lightning connector in the iPhone 15, it was really, an exciting opportunity. What usually happens when Apple adopts a new technology is this huge hockey stick effect, in terms of not just consumer awareness but also in terms of adoption."

While Laing-Reece says there’s also been steady growth in the wireless charging market a few key overarching trends include more power and capacity.

“Consumers are looking to get a faster charge or charge higher-powered devices in a quicker period of time, or they’ve got more accessories that they need to charge all at once.”

These trends are translating into an increase in demand for very compact but high-powered, solutions such as GaN chargers.

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Dylan Crismale

Digital Content Editor

Dylan Crismale is a Digital Content Editor at WhistleOut, has been writing for almost a decade across a variety of Australian publications. He previously worked as a writer at Finder covering energy, internet and mobile plans. Dylan is passionate about finding the best deals to save people money and educating people about tech. When he's not sat at his desk Dylan loves working out, bingeing TV and hanging out with friends.

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