iPhone 15: Everything Apple killed off at its major live event

Lightning cables and small iPhones were among products removed after event ended

(AFP via Getty Images)

Apple has held its biggest event of the year, announcing four new iPhones and two new Apple Watches.

The livestreamed event saw no mention of Macs, Apple TVs or iPads. But some products were even more rejected than that: being discontinued during the event, or after it.

That includes the smaller iPhones, all leather accessories and some products with the Lightning connector that was removed from the new phones.

Here’s everything that was discontinued during the event.

iPhone Mini

In 2020, Apple released a phone that was incredibly exciting to some: a smaller model, at 5.4-inches, which it referred to as the iPhone 12 Mini. A year later came its predecessor, the iPhone 13 Mini.

Some people may have liked them a lot – but not enough people did. Last year, Apple didn’t announce a follow-up model in the iPhone 14 range, and instead launched the iPhone 14 Plus.

But the iPhone 13 Mini stuck around in the line-up, until the iPhone 15 event. Now it is gone, and it doesn’t look like anything is replacing it.

Other iPhones have also been removed from the line-up: the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, and the iPhone 12. They all have direct replacements, however, in the form of the previous year’s model.

Lightning accessories

Perhaps the biggest news for the new iPhones was the switch away from the Lightning cable, used for more than a decade, and its replacement with USB-C. Apple had initially resisted the switch, but after the European Union forced it to change, it relented and presented it as a selling point during the event.

That switch, however, means that some Lightning accessories have been removed. That includes, for instance, the MagSafe charging pack that Apple released with the iPhone 12, presumably because it had a Lightning connector at the bottom.

It is unclear whether they will be coming back, with a USB-C port or any other changes. But they are no longer on the store.

(Some Lightning accessories are still here, however, for now. The mouse and keyboard that comes with the iMac still plugs in that way, for instance.)

And lightning AirPods

The AirPods have also been moved to USB-C, and so the old ones have left the market. Apple presented this as a straightforward upgrade during its event – though after the fact it has emerged that the new AirPods are actually new in other ways, with support for lossless audio and better dust protection.

The silent switch

The switch has been on the side of the phone in some form since the very first iPhone. And now it is gone, at least in the Pro line-up.

Instead, Apple has swapped it for the “action button”. That can still be used for muting – and by default it is set that way – but it can be changed to do other actions, too.

The switch is still around in the normal, cheaper iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. But given that those tend to get many of the innovations from the previous years’ model, expect it to be removed fully in next year’s iPhones.

Leather accessories

Apple focused on sustainability a lot during its event. And the star announcement of that focus was the removal of leather from Apple’s line-up.

It will make no new accessories out of the material, it said – though some will still be available, they are being phased out. Apple said that was because of their environmental impact, not mentioning ethical concerns.

Instead, Apple has launched a range of new Apple Watch straps and iPhone cases in a new material, named FineWoven. It says that it will do the same job but with “significantly lower emissions”.