Apple Has A USB-C Surprise For Apple Watch Owners

For years now, a consistent truth of buying Apple products is that you're going to have to deal with a proprietary charger of some kind. Whether it was the 30-pin connector that first appeared back in the days or the iPod or the Lightning connector that succeeded it, we've been using proprietary chargers with Apple devices for a long time. That may all be changing soon, as rumors claiming that Apple will soon make the jump to USB-C have been swirling for months.

Today, we might be getting our first indication of that supposed shift. Apple has launched a new magnetic charger for the Apple Watch that connects to a power source through USB-C. The charger itself is fairly unexciting – simply attach it to the back of your Apple Watch magnetically, plug it in, and charge up.

However, that USB-C connector means that you can connect it to modern MacBook for a quick top-up on the go, which is like an exciting prospect for the Apple faithful. Indeed, it seems that this is intended to be a charger that you can stick in your laptop bag, as the cable is only 0.3m in length. In other words, it's meant to be kept close to its power source, such as on a tabletop next to a MacBook.

Assuming this is an indication of Apple's future plans, we may see this USB-C shift arrive on iPad first. Back in September, we heard that Apple may outfit the next iPad Pro with a USB-C charging port, ditching Lightning altogether. If that happens, it seems likely that USB-C would spread to iPhone eventually, but thus far, Apple has been tight-lipped on its plans.

We may not have a long wait ahead of us before we find out, though. Yesterday, Apple sent out invitations to a new product reveal event that'll be held on October 30. It's there that we expect the company to introduce its new iPads for 2018, which were notably absent from its reveal event in September. We'll be covering that event as it happens, so be sure to check back here with SlashGear on the day of. For now, those of you who want to pick up this new Apple Watch charger can find it at Apple.com for $29.