Some of the earliest adopters of USB-C technology in the smartphone industry include OnePlus and LeTV, with other manufacturers like Samsung and Motorola following suit. Despite popularizing the trend with the 12-inch MacBook in 2015 that boldly only featured a single USB-C port, it took Apple another eight years to bring the now-mainstream charging port to the iPhone.

Up until this point, every iPhone shipped with Apple's proprietary Lightning port. While this was an improvement over the older 30-pin connector and helped create a lot more space on the inside of its devices for other components, USB-C on iPhones had been long overdue.

Released in 2023, the entire iPhone 15 series got an upgrade to the USB-C standard -- matching other products like the iPad and AirPods in Apple's lineup. So, does USB-C really bring noticeable upgrades over Lightning -- or is it smarter to buy an old iPhone for a better deal? Read on to explore more as we dissect the major differences between the two charging standards.