iPhone 12 Braided USB-C May Finally Fix Apple Cord Rep

As the iPhone 12 is near to launch, leaks indicate the appearance of a USB-C cord in the box. But it's not what you might've expected – every cord has two ends. On this cord, this leaked photo of a cord, it would appear that even though we're getting USB-C on one end of the braided length, we've still got Lightning on the other. It's not the USB-C bit that matters most, here.

This won't come as a shock to most users, as a switch from one proprietary cord to another is a big deal – and not one that'd only appear a few days before a major product launch. The lead up, be it official or through 3rd-party leaks, is generally pretty extensive. The importance of knowing about said cord change is difficult to overstate.

SEE TOO: Why the fuss about USB-C?

When a new cord is released for the most popular smartphone in the world, it affects a lot of people. There's an industry of cord-makers and accessory manufacturers that requires knowledge of a major change like this with plenty of lead time. When Apple switched from their massive 30-pin port to Lightning, it was a pretty big deal.

Now with the iPhone 12, Apple will almost certainly stick with Lightning. The big change here isn't USB-C – that's appeared on a few other Lightning cords over the past few releases already. It's the upgrade to a braided cord design.

Imagery here comes via MacRumors and the Tweet shown above.

The big deal here is that the cord might last longer than your average Apple power cord generally does. Apple makes cords that are fully capable of being recycled – this is part of the reason that they don't last as long as some 3rd-party cables. Now, with a braided cable like the one we see here, we could get the best of both worlds. Wouldn't that be great?