Flashback: saying goodbye to the Lightning port

This week we bid farewell to the Lightning port – with the launch of the iPhone 15 series and the Pro models its story comes to a close. We have already had a detailed look at Lightning, what it was, what it could do and what it couldn’t do. Here we just wanted to remember all the devices that were powered by Lightning.

The story began in 2012 with the iPhone 5, the iPad 4 and the brand new iPad mini. Apple also switched a couple of iPods – the 7th gen nano and the 5th gen touch – to Lightning. This was significant as the 30-pin connector that Lightning came to replace was originally used on the iPod (after ditching FireWire).

Now, the iPhone 5, like the iPads and the iPods, each had 3.5mm headphone jack – that wouldn’t go away until the iPhone 7 generation. But you can see that the writing was on the wall, Apple also introduced a version of its wired EarPods headphones that used a Lightning plug instead of a 3.5mm jack.

The accessories included in the iPhone 7 box

A quick note: to avoid clutter, we will skip some products, mostly cables and chargers and such. Really the only such accessory worth including here is the Lightning to 3.5mm adapter from 2016 – Apple included one of these with every iPhone 7 (along with a pair of Lightning EarPods) and it did the same for future models until 2018.

So, as you can see the list is dominated by iDevices, but there are wireless headphones – the AirPods, which are moving to USB-C as well – plus small battery-powered electronics like some keyboards and mice (those should have switched to USB-C along with the Macs that they are connected to, anyway).

Goodbye, Lightning.

2012

Apple iPhone 5 • Apple iPad 4 Wi-Fi • Apple iPad mini Wi-Fi

Apple EarPods • Apple iPod nano (7th gen) • iPod touch (5th gen)

2013

Apple iPhone 5s • Apple iPhone 5c • Apple iPad Air • Apple iPad mini 2

2014

Apple iPhone 6 • Apple iPhone 6 Plus • Apple iPad Air 2 • Apple iPad mini 3

2015

Apple iPhone 6s • Apple iPhone 6s Plus • Apple iPad mini 4 (2015) • Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2015)

Apple Pencil (1st gen) • Apple Magic Keyboard • Apple Magic Mouse (2nd gen) • Magic Trackpad

Apple iPod Touch (6th gen) • Beats Pill+

2016

Apple iPhone 7 • Apple iPhone 7 Plus • Apple iPhone SE • Apple iPad Pro 9.7 (2016)

Lightning to 3.5mm adapter • Apple AirPods (1st gen)

2017

Apple iPhone 8 • Apple iPhone 8 Plus • Apple iPhone X • Apple iPad 9.7 (2017)

Apple iPad Pro 10.5 (2017) • Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2017) • BeatsX • Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad

2018

Apple iPhone XS • Apple iPhone XS Max • Apple iPhone XR • Apple iPad 9.7 (2018)

2019

Apple iPhone 11 • Apple iPhone 11 Pro • Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max • Apple iPad mini (2019)

Apple iPad 10.2 (2019) • Apple iPad Air (2019) • Apple AirPods (2nd gen) • Apple AirPods Pro (1st gen)

Apple iPod Touch (7th gen) • Beats Solo Pro

2020

Apple iPhone 12 mini • Apple iPhone 12 • Apple iPhone 12 Pro • Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max

Apple iPhone SE (2020) • Apple iPad 10.2 (2020) • Apple AirPods Max

2021

Apple iPhone 13 mini • Apple iPhone 13 • Apple iPhone 13 Pro • Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max

Apple iPad 10.2 (2021) • Apple AirPods (3rd gen)

2022

Apple iPhone 14 • Apple iPhone 14 Plus • Apple iPhone 14 Pro • Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

Apple iPhone SE (2022) • Apple AirPods Pro (2nd gen)