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iPhone 16 firmware recovery hints at a portless iPhone in the future

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3 months ago

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iPhone 16 firmware recovery hints at a portless iPhone in the future

Now that iOS 18 is out, and iPadOS 18 is bricking devices, there’s a very cool feature coming to iPhone 16. But alongside this feature comes an even cooler possibility: a completely port-free iPhone successor.

The feature I’m talking about is wireless firmware recovery. If your iPhone is bricked and stuck in Recovery Mode, simply put it next to another iPhone. The second phone will download and wirelessly transfer the required firmware to the malfunctioning phone.

This feature seems limited to iPhone 16, whether because of hardware constraints or something else, we don’t know. Older iPhone models will still need to be connected to a PC to be fixed. However, as a commenter points out, wireless firmware recovery might be hinting at something much bigger.

I’m not just talking about screen size. | Image credit — PhoneArena - iPhone 16 firmware recovery hints at a portless iPhone in the future

I’m not just talking about screen size. | Image credit — PhoneArena

A portless iPhone doesn’t sound that far–fetched, does it? If you have wireless charging, wireless audio gear, an eSIM and wireless software recovery options, you don’t really need ports anymore, do you?

It wouldn’t be the craziest thing to assume. Yes, the M4 Mac mini is doing the opposite, but the iPhone is a different category of product altogether. We’ve already seen reports of Apple working on an iPhone 17 Air — a slimmer, less powerful iPhone — so who’s to say a portless device is off the menu?

With Apple hogging TSMC’s 2 nm chip supply, the company is more than prepared to make even slimmer devices. And what helps make a device slimmer? A lack of ports, that’s what (rest in peace, headphone jack).

The modern MacBook Air is one of my most favorite laptops in the world simply because of its fanless design. Remove the whirring noises and it feels like a more powerful phone. It almost feels unreal, and so will a portless phone. At first.

Samsung beats Apple when it comes to slim phones, at least according to renders pitting Galaxy S25 Ultra against iPhone 16 Pro Max. So a phone that’s smooth all over (and titanium!) won’t just attract the people who prefer form over function, it’ll be one of the best phones on the market simply because of how unique it is.

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