The Apple Lightning port emerged back in September 2012. That is a decade ago. Since then, the Cupertino firm has included it in most of its mobile devices and accessories. While this port is durable and works, it still is a proprietary and a relatively dated one. USB Type-C is now the universal standard that most of the new relevant gadgets utilize. Despite that, Apple still sticks to Lightning on many of its products -- including the highest-end Pro iPhones and AirPods Pro.

With the EU pushing manufacturers to adopt the USB Type-C standard, Apple might not have a say in the matter down the road. We've heard rumors about the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro settling for Lightning later this year. We expect the iPhone 15 series to make the switch to USB Type-C, though. Reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has just shared his predictions regarding the charging ports on upcoming AirPods models.

As the tweet above reflects, Kuo believes that the AirPods Pro 2 -- which we could see next month -- might still depend on the Lightning standard. More notably, though, he states that Apple could launch USB Type-C cases for all AirPods models in 2023. In the past, Apple refreshed previous AirPods models' cases to introduce Qi and MagSafe charging support. So the company could go for a similar route with the port. In this case, even older models it currently sells would get a case refresh with a USB Type-C port.

The AirPods Pro 2 could potentially launch along with the iPhone 14 lineup this fall. We expect them to feature a design that is similar to that of the first-gen model -- while retaining the Lightning port, too.

Would you buy the rumored AirPods Pro 2 if they have a Lightning port? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments section below.