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 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 labeled 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 and we did notice the adapter get hot when trying to charge up something larger than an iPhone.
Arktek
Author: Simon Jary, Contributing writer
Simon was Editor of Macworld from the dark days of 1995 to the triumphant return of Steve Jobs and the launch of the iPhone. His desk is a test bench for tech accessories, from USB-C and Thunderbolt docks to chargers, batteries, Powerline adaptors and Fitbits.