Apple may soon be ditching the 30-pin dock connector found in all its iOS devices in favor of a smaller 8-pin port this fall.
Sources at Apple are reportedly indicating the new port will not only appear in the iPhone 5 – expected September 12 – but also in all other 30-pin port devices, including iPods,
and
.
Citing specific products, iMore expects the new iPod Nano, iPod Touch, the rumored 7-inch iPad Mini and an updated version of the current 9.7-inch iPad to feature the diminutive dock connector.
TechRadar reported August 2 that the iPhone 5 will likely come with a downsized port. However, these are the first reports indicating the entire iOS device line will be getting a port reduction.
All of Apple's mobile devices, as well as iPods, iPhones and iPads, currently feature the 30-pin dock connector.
Initial signs pointed to the iPhone 5's dock connector being a 19-pin port, but these reports chop that figure by more than half.
The smaller connector may be a necessary structural change to accommodate the device's supposedly slimmer body.
A change of plans
These same Apple sources say the update for all iOS devices could happen as early as September 12.
Such an update would be unprecedented for a company that usually sticks to one or two major product announcements/developments a year.
However, it looks like Apple is more concerned with having a consistent dock design than sticking to a hard and fast release schedule.
No word yet from Apple as to when the port change for all devices, if indeed true, is coming.
Via iMore
