Apple is reportedly planning to introduce a USB-C authenticator chip for the ‌iPhone 15‌ and ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ lineup, potentially limiting their functionality with Apple-unapproved accessories. This rumor comes from an integrated circuit expert with 25 years of experience working on Intel's Pentium processors, who shared the news on Weibo.

Genuine iPhone Accessories

The authenticator chip will reportedly function to increase the security of Apple-approved accessories and encourage customers to purchase genuine and MFi-certified accessories from Apple. Furthermore, Apple is said to be developing its variant of USB-C for this year's ‌iPhone 15‌ lineup, as well as new MFi-certified peripherals. It is yet to be seen what exact implications this will have for the functionality of the devices. We speculate some features like fast charging and high-speed data transfer could be limited to Apple and MFi-certified accessories.

USB-C

Apple is also said to be developing its variant of USB-C for this year's ‌iPhone 15‌ lineup, as well as new MFi-certified peripherals. The USB-C interface currently used by Apple in the 10th-generation iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro does not contain an IC chip for authentication.

It is unclear what implications this could have for the functionality of the new devices, but Apple may limit features like fast charging and high-speed data transfer to Apple and MFi-certified cables. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously reported that the USB-C port on the ‌iPhone 15‌ and ‌iPhone 15‌ Plus will remain limited to USB 2.0 speeds, while the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max models will get faster charging speeds.