If you’ve just bought one of Apple’s new iPhone 15 models with its new USB-C port, you might suddenly find yourself with a drawer full of seemingly useless Lightning cables. I counted them up and my family of three have amassed twelve Lightning cables, and there’s probably a few more hidden away.
Fear not for more tech landfill, you can still use these Lightning cables to charge an iPhone 15–if you add a simple adapter.
Apple claims that the only way to do this is by using its own USB-C to Lightning Adapter.
However, the Apple USB-C to Lightning Adapter costs $29/£29—nearly twice the price of its own 60W 1m USB-C to USB-C Charge Cable ($19). Why buy an adapter when you could buy two new charge cables for the same the price?
And, of course, you can buy high-quality USB-C cables much cheaper if you divert from the Apple Store. See Macworld’s recommended best USB-C charge cables. Don’t bother with the older Lightning cables with USB-A at the other end, as only USB-C (to Lightning or USB-C) supports iPhone fast charging.
But there are inexpensive third-party adapters that work just as well as the Apple adapter.
Quite aside from the fact that the Apple adapter is actually a Lightning to USB-C adapter and not the other way round as it has labelled it, there are much cheaper alternatives that turn a Lightning cable into a USB-C charging cable.
What you need is a Lightning Female to USB-C Male Adapter. Slip the Lightning end of your old pre-iPhone 15 charging cable into this type of adapter and you can use it to charge an iPhone 15 or another low-charge USB-C device.
We tested the Arktek Lightning to USB-C Adapter, available in a handy two-pack in either Silver or Gray for $10.99 or £11.99, as well as this pack of one Lightning to USB-C and one USB-C to Lightning Adapter (U.K. only; £8.99) in case you fancy going the other way, too.
There are others also available, such as the FQSH for Lightning Female to USB-C Male Adapter-2 Pack ($10) that is available in multiple colors (U.S. only).
That’s all you need to transform your Lightning cable into a USB-C charging cable.
Do note, however, that you should use your modified Lightning cable to charge your laptop, and try to stick to a 20W USB-C charger if possible. Each Lightning USB-C adapter has its own list of unsupported devices—such as the Apple Pencil—so check these when you purchase. In testing, we got our Lightning cable plus USB-C adapter combo to charge just about anything but the manufacturer device prohibition is about potential overheating.
Arktek
