Not so fast: The iPhone 15’s USB

It’s been a big stretch for iPhone 15 USB-C rumors. First, we learned that Apple would finally be delivering fast charging up to 35W on the new phones, and then a leak showed off new color-matched braided cables. And now a new report adds some further details about what those cables will do.

According to Majin Bu on X (formerly Twitter), the USB-C-to-USB-C cable supplied with the iPhone 15 will be USB 2.0, which supports data transfers up to 480Mbps, the same as Lightning. The leaker also says the cable will be 1.6 meters long (versus 1 meter for Lightning) and be “thicker and more resistant.”

New iPhone 15 USB C Cable Info Confirmed 1.6M long16Pins Thicker and more resistantUSB 2.0 20V3A No MFI pic.twitter.com/WV4unodWPg

In a follow-up post, Bu says the iPhone 15 Pro models “could” come with a Thunderbolt cable, which would support speeds of up 40Gbps. However, Apple doesn’t supply a Thunderbolt cable with the iPad Pro, so it wouldn’t be surprising to supply a standard USB-C 2.0 cable with the higher-end iPhones, despite rumors that Apple will support Thunderbolt transfer speeds.

That means iPhone 15 Pro users would need to buy a separate cable to take advantage of Thunderbolt speeds, which Apple currently sells for $39. However, Bu claims that iPhone 15 cables will not be MFi (Made for iPhone) so any Thunderbolt 4 cable will work properly. Charging speeds would not be affected by the cable, as USB-C 2.0 supports speeds up to 100W.

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 15 at an event in mid-September. Stay tuned to Macworld’s 15 iPhone rumor roundup for all the latest news as the big day approaches.

Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.