According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s next-generation iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature a USB-C port with at least USB 3.2 or Thunderbolt 3 support, giving these devices a significant speed advantage over current models. Thunderbolt 3 theoretically offers up to 40 Gbps of bandwidth, while the Lightning connector has USB 2.0 speeds of up to 480 Mbps on all current iPhones.

Even with real-world performance limitations, an iPhone 15 Pro with a Thunderbolt-enabled USB-C port delivers significantly higher data transfer rates over a Thunderbolt cable, making loading and unloading large files from iPhone much faster. 48MP ProRAW photos.

Even if the iPhone 15 Pro models only support USB 3.2, this would mean theoretical transfer speeds of 5Gbps to 20Gbps depending on the exact specifications, which would be significantly faster than Lightning.

Most iPads with USB-C ports already offer faster transfer speeds. iPad Pro models and later with the M1 chip support Thunderbolt 3 up to 40Gbps, the fifth-generation iPad Air supports 10Gbps, and the fourth-generation iPad Air and the latest iPad mini support up to 5Gbps . The only exception is the new standard 10th generation iPad with a USB-C port, which is limited to USB 2.0 speeds. Like the 10th-gen iPad, Kuo said the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will remain limited to USB 2.0 speeds despite the switch to USB-C. AirDrop will remain an option for faster wireless data transfer on these devices.