It was admittedly a bit of a surprise when Apple introduced USB-C to the iPad Pro. This is because Apple has long relied on the use of proprietary ports and cables way back when the first iPhone and iPad launched. However, for some reason, USB-C has not been brought over to the iPhone, at least not until now.
This is thanks to robotics engineer Ken Pillonel who created what he claims is the world’s first USB-C iPhone. Basically what he did was he took apart the iPhone X and made some modifications and removed the Lightning port and replaced it with USB-C, thus allowing him to use USB-C cables to charge his device.
According to Pillonel, “This is it. I’ve finally built the World’s First iPhone with a USB Type-C port. It supports charging and data transfers. The first part was about getting the electronics to work. Then the next step was to reverse-engineer the Apple C94 connector and make my own PCB with a female USB C port.”
It doesn’t sound like a particularly easy mod to pull off so unless you know what you’re doing and are willing to risk ruining your iPhone and voiding its warranty, it’s probably best just to admire Pillonel’s work rather than attempt it yourself. That being said, the EU did previously state that they plan to make it mandatory for companies to adopt USB-C as the charging standard.
This is essentially aimed at Apple as they are pretty much the only company that continues to insist on using their own proprietary connections, but whether or not they’ll cave into the EU’s demands remains to be seen.