The Lightning connector lives on. Even after all the efforts of the European Union, the Lighting cable is not completely gone. No, we are not talking about the old products still having it, even though the Magic accessories need to switch to the USB-C. But, it is the hot new Vision Pro, which costs $3,500, having not one but two Lightning connectors, and they are as big as they can get.

A few days ago, Ray Wong from Inverse, on X (formerly Twitter), shared an image of a large-sized Lighting connector. He says the Apple Vision Pro power cable connects the battery with the Lightning. He used a SIM removal tool to push into a small hole in the silver external battery pack of the Vision Pro next to the cable, and out popped what appears to be a larger, 12-pin version of the connector that Apple ditched last year on the iPhone.
If you thought this might be the final version of Lighting, little do you know what is to come.

The Vision Pro headset has another, even bigger Lightning plug, which is even bigger than the 12-pin plug it uses to connect to its battery pack. The plug has ten pins, and it’s hidden within the headset’s strap. iFixit has posted a photo showing the large connector as they disassemble the Vision Pro.
Neither of these are Lightning cables that can be plugged into an iPhone since they only have 8 pins and are much wider. There is another Lightning, the smallest of all, and it is in the AirPods Max.
A point to be noted is that the Vision Pro has no ports at all. The external battery connects to the headset using a magnetic puck, twist, and lock. However, there is a $299 “Developer Strap” for the Vision Pro, which has a USB-C port and is usually used to connect the headset and Mac. It might or might not power the headset through a power socket, or we won’t know until someone toys around with their headset.
The reason why Apple opted to use Lightning on the Vision Pro is still unclear. Although it’s not really meant for general use, it’s interesting to note that it could have had a USB-C port instead. It’s ironic that despite the EU‘s efforts, Apple’s shiny new headset still relies on the Lightning connector.