The charging dock actually has a tradition at Apple. With the original iPhone, the group introduced a charging station in 2007 to charge the smartphone upright. As reported by 9to5Mac, the first generation even included it as a free gift in the sales box. The charging station has been revised several times over the years. The last version of the Lightning Dock was released in 2015 and was sold for 55 euros. All iPhones with a Lightning port can be charged with it, including the latest iPhone 13. In addition to charging, the dock with its 3.5 mm output is also popular for playing music.
Lightning Dock no longer available as of mid-November 2021
But the days of the Apple Lightning Dock are probably over. After the color selection, as TECHBOOK reports, was initially reduced from white, space gray, rose gold, silver and gold to just black and gold, the accessories are no longer available on the official website. If you try to find the Lightning Dock via a Google search, the displayed results either lead to links that no longer exist or to shop pages where the product is completely sold out and is no longer available. According to TECHBOOK, if you use the Internet archive Wayback Machine, the product page appears on apple.com for the last time in November 2021. Since then, Apple has apparently removed the charging station from its range. There was no announcement about this. Apparently there are still a few leftovers. According to 9to5Mac, the Lightning Dock is still available from Apple in Brazil and Turkey. In most other countries, however, the manufacturer has completely stopped selling it. However, customers in Brazil would have to shell out a steep price of 110 US dollars for the loading dock. Interested parties could also have luck in shops from the free trade. If the brand is not so important to you, you can alternatively use products from third-party suppliers. Of course, these are still available despite the Lightning Dock’s demise.
Is the openingless iPhone coming?
Because Apple hasn’t explained or announced its decision to discontinue the Lightning Dock, the reasons for the discontinuation of the product are unknown. One can only speculate about the motives behind it. One possible explanation, according to 9to5Mac, is the promotion of MagSafe charging accessories. Apple may want to focus on its wireless charging technology in the future and boost sales by eliminating the Lightning Dock. According to TECHBOOK, another theory is that the next iPhone 14 should no longer have any openings for charging ports. This would make plug-in stations obsolete for the coming iPhone generations, and Apple’s latest sales decision could be seen as a silent advance notice of this step. It remains to be seen whether the speculation will come true.
Nicolas Flohr / Editor finanzen.net
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