Apple releases USB-C Apple Watch charger

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

• Apple now sells an Apple Watch charger with a USB-C connector
  at the other end.
• This adds credence to the rumors that Apple’s upcoming iPad
  Pro models might ditch Apple’s proprietary Lightning connector
  for the USB-C standard. 
• Apple is expected to launch new iPads on October 30 in
  Brooklyn, New York. 

Apple quietly started selling a charging cable for the Apple
Watch that uses a USB-C connector.

This could hint at one of the biggest rumors about Apple’s
upcoming iPads: that they could be equipped with a USB-C port,
instead of Apple’s proprietary Lightning charger.

Apple is widely expected to launch new iPad Pro models in Brooklyn on
October 30, when it has scheduled a launch event. 

A USB-C connector.
YouTube/ThioJoe

Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops already sport USB-C
connectors. The ports are symmetrical and smaller than the USB-A
ports that have been standard on most phones and laptops for the
past decades. They also support a lot of other nifty features,
like powering an external display.

If Apple wanted to make its iPad Pro more like a laptop,
including a USB-C port would be a logical move. It could enable
professional users to use specific accessories, like mice or
keyboards, if Apple wanted to support them.

And with Apple’s new USB-C charger for the Apple Watch, people
could conceivable charge their smartwatch from their iPad, too,
without an adapter. There are no officially licensed third-party
Apple Watch chargers. 

Apple

There are a fair amount of rumors pointing to a USB-C iPad Pro,
although the move would be a break from tradition for Apple,
which prefers to use its proprietary charger on its iOS phones
and tablets. 

In September, well-connected TF International Securities analyst
Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that Apple’s new iPad Pro would come with
a
USB-C connector for input and output. 

Earlier this week, accessory makers at a trade fair in Hong Kong
said that they expect the upcoming iPad Pro to have USB-C instead
of Lightning, according
to MacOtakara, a Japanese Apple blog. So it’s entirely
possible that Apple could equip the new iPads thought to come out
this month with a new kind of connector, making them more like a
laptop. 

However, Apple still includes an
older USB-A iPhone charger with new iPhones, so the
transition to next-generation USB-C isn’t complete yet. 

Business Insider will cover all of Apple’s announcements as they
happen on October 30.