It took the iPhone an eternity to strike Lightning in favor of the common USB-C port. Now that it’s right here on all fashions, together with the low-end 16e, many customers nonetheless restrict its use to charging, overlooking the slew of different benefits it affords over Lightning. In case you’ve received an iPhone 15 or 16 mannequin, you possibly can increase the USB-C port’s performance past battery fill-ups, and we’ve received a couple of concepts to share.
1. Charging one other machine
Rival corporations, like Samsung, have lengthy supported reverse wi-fi charging, letting customers flip their smartphones into moveable Qi pads. Nevertheless, it’s not all that sensible, forcing customers to flip over their telephones and rendering each unusable. With the iPhone 15 and newer fashions, Apple launched its personal model that works through the USB-C port.
Your iPhone can now ship as much as 4.5W of energy, letting you cost your AirPods, Apple Watch, or perhaps a good friend’s Android telephone. To take action, merely plug your USB-C cable into the iPhone and the opposite finish into the USB-C port on the opposite machine.
2. Enhance your storage
Even with 128 GB as the usual, we’ve in all probability all come throughout the iPhone’s full storage alert. Whereas information saved in iCloud can simply be offloaded from the native reminiscence, not all customers belief cloud storage. Thankfully, the iPhone 15 and 16 help a variety of exterior storage gadgets, together with USB sticks and laborious drives. This makes it simple to unlock house by transferring giant information to a separate drive. To get began, join a suitable flash drive to your iPhone utilizing its USB-C port. You may then view, handle, and switch information utilizing the built-in Information app.
One of many stable choices out there may be this tiny Samsung Sort-C Flash Drive, which helps common file transfers and real-time ProRes video storage. As a Professional unique, these with the highest-end iPhone 15 and 16 fashions can instantly document ProRes video to a suitable exterior storage machine. Given the appreciable dimension of uncooked footage, having the ability to write the info instantly onto a separate machine may also help you shoot for longer intervals and keep away from filling up your iPhone’s reminiscence.
Your iPhone’s USB-C cable can do extra than simply cost your iPhone.
Foundry
3. Join a keyboard
Whereas iPads and Macs are higher fitted to long-form typing, iPhones—particularly the near-7-inch Plus and Professional Max fashions—can nonetheless deal with productiveness duties successfully. To profit from the comparatively small display, although, you could wish to pair it with a devoted keyboard. Thankfully, iOS natively helps this by way of the USB-C port.
Most traditional keyboards ought to work along with your iPhone simply tremendous. Or if you wish to all the time have a keyboard with you, you possibly can go for a Clicks case, which connects to your USB-C port so it’s all the time prepared for a textual content or electronic mail.
4. Amplify your microphone
Within the period of TikTok, everyone seems to be a content material creator, so a high-quality microphone is a necessary device. Thankfully, your iPhone’s USB-C port can help a variety of them, letting you pair your footage with crystal-clear high-quality audio. One dependable possibility is the Rode Wi-fi Micro, which makes use of your iPhone’s port whereas sustaining the comfort of wi-fi recording.
5. Add an SD card slot
Photographers and videographers love the helpful SD card slots on board the most recent MacBook Professional and Mac Studio, however that comfort doesn’t lengthen to the machine that does most of your capturing. Thankfully, that may be simply remedied with a wired SD card reader. Whereas newer cameras usually help wi-fi photograph transfers through their respective companion apps, the method tends to be slower than the wired various. Apple’s USB-C to SD Card Reader connects to your iPhone by way of its charging port and will work with all related SD playing cards. You may as well use this identical dongle along with your Mac or iPad when enhancing on a bigger display.
With the suitable cable, you possibly can join your iPhone to any show.
Willis Lai / Foundry
6. Hook up an exterior show
In case you’re staying at a lodge that blocks wi-fi media casting, you might be able to mirror your iPhone’s display to the TV utilizing a wired resolution. Apple’s USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter transforms your iPhone’s charging port into an HDMI connector, permitting you to look at 4K content material on greater shows utilizing an everyday HDMI cable.
7. Plug in a recreation controller
Because of the A17 and A18 chips, the newest iPhones can run some AAA video games. Notably, although, these titles sometimes want a controller, as contact controls don’t all the time provide the very best gameplay in the event that they’re out there in any respect. Whereas Sony’s DualSense controller helps Bluetooth pairing, choosing the wired mode utilizing the iPhone’s USB-C port can decrease latency and improve total efficiency.
8. Connect with ethernet
Talking of gaming, the iPhone 15 and 16 fashions absolutely help ethernet dongles, permitting for sooner obtain and add speeds. Whereas Wi-Fi and 5G are adequate for many customers, Ethernet can turn out to be useful when looking for an much more reliable connection. Belkin’s USB-C to Ethernet Adapter is among the stable choices that’s assured to get the job finished.
9. Do all of it
The most important detriment of the iPhone is that there’s only one port, however a USB hub may give you far more. We advocate the Plugable 7-in-1 USB-C Hub Multiport Adapter, which can convey a headphone jack, USB-C charging, HDMI, an SD card reader, ethernet, and even a few USB-A ports for good measure. It’s not precisely small, but when you want to use a number of ports without delay, there’s no substitute.
Your iPhone’s USB-C port is a multi-purpose connector for shows, laborious drives, and different equipment.
Connor Jewiss / Foundry
One port, many potentialities
Whereas a few of these functionalities had been beforehand doable with Lightning iPhones, the shift to USB-C has tremendously expanded the port’s capabilities. Now you can carry out a variety of desktop-class duties proper out of your smartphone, because of tethered equipment.
Maybe the very best half is that the majority USB-C equipment you’ve been utilizing along with your iPad or Mac ought to work along with your iPhone 15 or 16—eliminating the necessity for Lightning-to-USB-C dongles. Whether or not Apple will introduce new USB-C upgrades with the iPhone 17 stays to be seen.