Apple iPhone 15 would be the first supporting USB-C: Kuo

After some supply chain checks, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that the 2023 “iPhone 15” will abandon the Lightning connector and instead use USB-C. Apple has been periodically rumored to migrate from Lightning to USB-C for a forthcoming iPhone over the last few years, and the EU is close to requiring all smartphone manufacturers to adopt it. In a new series of tweets, Ming-Chi Kuo says he believes it will happen with the “iPhone 15.”

My latest survey indicates that the 2H23 new iPhone will abandon the Lightning port and switch to a USB-C port. USB-C could improve iPhone’s transfer and charging speed in hardware designs, but the final spec details still depend on iOS support.— (Ming-Chi Kuo).

Recent tweets from Kuo have primarily been his predictions, rather than based on any supply chain evidence. He says this new information is from his “latest survey,” presumably of those suppliers, however.
If correct, a 2023 launch would mark the end of the Lightning connector as Apple’s primary charging cable, after 13 years. USB-C was launched shortly after Lightning in 2012, but it wasn’t until the 12-inch MacBook in 2015 that Apple used it.