The designer behind the USB-C iPhone has now made the world’s first AirPods with a USB-C port

Homogeneity is the name of the game. Ken Pillonel loves his Apple products, but he hates the fact that he needs separate charging cables for his laptop and iPad, and his iPhone and AirPods. Determined to solve this problem, Pillonel began his journey last year by designing the world’s first USB-C iPhone. After removing the lightning port circuitry, Pillonel created a PCB ribbon cable that could be fitted inside the iPhone. This resulted in a phone which could not only charge via USB-C, but also allow data transfer. Now the only missing piece of the puzzle was replacing the lightning port on his AirPods – a feat that he achieved this year.

Welcome to the first and only USB-C AirPods in the world. Hacked together by Pillonel, a master’s degree student in robotics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, these AirPods are no different from your regular pair of Apple-branded TWS earbuds. It’s just that they charge via USB-C.

Designer: Ken Pillonel

This unique prototype was created by removing an AirPods box. It is quite a task considering that it is closed. Pillonel removed the housing from the case and then undid the ribbon cable for the lightning port. He replaced it with his custom-made ribbon cable with a USB port at its end. As simple as that sounds, Pillonel points out that the actual process is just as complicated. Not only is making a ribbon cable expensive, Apple puts up tonnes of safeguards to prevent crazy engineers from doing such things.

The final result marks a monumental achievement for Pillonel, who just wanted to use the same cable to charge all his Apple devices. As demonstrated in his YouTube Shorts video, he uses the same USB-C cable to charge his MacBook, iPhone, and even the AirPods!

According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, it’s speculated that Apple will transition the iPhone to USB-C in 2023. Apple may abandon its proprietary charging port to make way for the universal USB standard. However, it is uncertain if these speculations will be true. Apple may make the USB-C iPhone but it will have to replace the charging ports on its AirPods, even the Max. All AirPods charge using lightning. It’s in such situations that experiments like Pillonel’s pay off, given that he’s sold his USB-C iPhone PCB in the past, for anyone who wants to mod their Apple smartphone.