A portless iPhone may no longer be outside the realm of possibility for Apple. The European Union has confirmed that the Silicon Valley giant can create portless iPhones without USB-C.
We reported over the weekend that Apple wanted to make the iPhone 17 Air the first portless phone, but shelved the idea because of regulations in the EU, per a report from Bloomberg. One of those regulations was the Common Charger Directive, an environmental law that forced Apple to switch from the Lightning port to USB-C to reduce the amount of electronic waste from Lightning cables. Now, according to 9to5Mac, European Commission press officer Federica Miccoli said a portless iPhone would also comply with the directive.
“Since such radio equipment cannot be recharged via wired charging, it does not need to incorporate the harmonized (wired) charging solution,” Miccoli said.
By that definition, it would be legal for Apple to sell an iPhone that could only be charged through wireless charging or MagSafe in the European market. The iPhone 17 Air may not be the first phone to not carry a charging port, despite its slim design, but any other iPhone that comes after could be.
In 2023, the iPhone 15 was released as the first iPhone to carry the USB-C port, ditching the Lightning port and the Lightning cable altogether. The switch was made not only to comply with the EU’s Common Charger Directive to create an iPhone with a USB-C port by the next year, but also to make the USB-C port a universal standard for every smartphone on the market. It also alleviated the headache of Android users asking people if they could borrow their chargers to power up their dying phones not knowing if that charger has a Lightning cable or a USB-C cable. Embracing a future of USB-C compatible iPhones did not come easy for Apple, though.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.
Apple's first foldable phone is now on shelves, in short supply, but with an unreal amount of buzz around it. After all, it's the first foldable iPhone, and there's plenty that this phone gets right. But there's also a lot that is either broken or underwhelming. What's peculiar is the dialogue around this phone, and how it has completely overshadowed every other attempt at making a phone with a similar form factor.
I've spent some time with the iPhone Duo, and I've used the Galaxy Z Fold 8 for almost three months now. In my opinion, Samsung deserves more credit. When the Galaxy Z Fold 8 arrived earlier this year, it was celebrated in some circles and ridiculed in others for supposedly copying what Apple would eventually deliver with the iPhone Duo. The dialogue was pretty odd, for multiple reasons. Samsung has been making foldable phones for years, so claiming that it copied a product Apple hadn't even launched was simply absurd.
For years, Samsung’s Galaxy A phones have been some of the easiest recommendations for anyone who wants to go the Android route without paying flagship prices. But that part of the lineup could soon become harder to find at a good price.
According to South Korea’s Electronic Times, Samsung is cutting Galaxy A production by about 20% in the fourth quarter compared to its original plans. Component orders have reportedly dropped by a similar amount, which could mean roughly 10 million fewer phones over the year. Samsung is also said to be considering another production cut of more than 10% next year.