Apple Inc. is set to abandon its Lightning port for the industry-standard USB-C on its next range of iPhones, if the latest reports turn out to be true.

Reports surrounding the iPhone XI range surfaced Dec. 31, with later reports Jan. 11 suggesting that the next incarnation of the phone will have three rear-facing cameras.

Although every new iPhone model is expected to be better than the last, the switch to USB-C is arguably radical for a company that is obstinately stuck with proprietary charging adapters, the rest of the market be damned.

Whether the switch comes in the 2019 or 2020 models is not clear.

Bloomberg reported today that Apple is testing “some versions of this year’s iPhone line that includes a USB-C connector instead of the Lightning port.” According to an unnamed source, “the company plans an eventual switch,” meaning that the new models would be “compatible with chargers used for hundreds of other devices, like Android phones.”

In addition to a potential switch to USB-C, the new iPhones are said to include a more powerful 3-D camera designed to scan the local environment to create three-dimensional reconstructions of the real world. Working from around 15 feet from the device, the new camera would be a vast improvement over the 3-D technology is existing iPhone models that at best can scan only as far as about 1.6 feet.

The news comes as Apple reported a 15 percent decline in iPhone sales in the first quarter and its first overall decline in revenue for more than a decade.

Revenue at the company Steve Jobs built came in at $51.98 billion for the quarter, down from the $61.1 billion it reported a year ago. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook blamed the decline on customers “holding on to their iPhones a bit longer than in the past.”

The drop in iPhone sales was also reflected in competitor Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., which also reported a lower profit Wednesday on declining demand for its memory chips. Samsung memory chips are used by all leading smartphone makers, including Apple.

Image: Concept Creator