Apple Begins Discontinuing iPhone SE and iPhone 14 in EU Ahead of USB-C Requirement

[MacRumors]

Starting today, the third-generation iPhone SE, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Plus, are listed as unavailable on Apple's online store in Switzerland, ahead of a regulation that will require smartphones with wired charging capabilities that are newly placed for sale to be equipped with a USB-C port in the European Union (EU).

Switzerland is not officially part of the EU, but the country participates in the single EU market and is thereby subject to EU trading laws.

While all iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models are equipped with USB-C ports for wired charging, the iPhone SE, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Plus still have Lightning ports, so Apple appears to be responding to the upcoming regulation. The law applies to any individual iPhone unit placed for sale after the deadline, even if they are older models.

French website iGeneration last week reported that the iPhone SE, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Plus would no longer be sold through Apple's online store and retail stores in EU countries starting December 28, which is when the regulation goes into force. However, the report said sales of the iPhones would be halted on Apple's online store in Switzerland around one week earlier, and that has now happened. The report said in-store availability at Apple's retail locations in Switzerland will continue until December 28.

Given that the Switzerland aspect of the report has now proven to be accurate, it is likely next week that Apple will make the affected iPhones unavailable across all 27 countries in the EU, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and others. While the United Kingdom left the EU in 2020, Northern Ireland continues to participate in the single EU market.

Apple Authorized Resellers in the EU will be able to continue selling the iPhones until their remaining inventory is depleted, the report said.

Apple is expected to announce a fourth-generation iPhone SE with a USB-C port in March, so the device should quickly return to the EU. Meanwhile, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus likely would have been discontinued in September had the USB-C regulation not existed, so sales of those devices are ending in the EU around nine months early.

Article Link: Apple Begins Discontinuing iPhone SE and iPhone 14 in EU Ahead of USB-C Requirement

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Very sad. And spineless of Apple not to pull all its products out of the EU in protest.

 

[TheOldChevy]

I like the current form factor of the SE and I am fine with the current connector, but having all on USB-C is a reasonable evolution. I only regret that the next SE will probably be bigger and will go for FaceID.

 

[SanderEvers]

Edit: never mind, I read it as discounting instead of discontinuing.

 

[victorvictoria]

Big deal. Let the Europeans stuck in the Eurozone buy them online if they want them. I can't imagine why they'd want them unless there's a BIG discount.

 

[nathansz]

Very sad. And spineless of Apple not to pull all its products out of the EU in protest.

why is it sad that apple obeys the law?

 

[Windoes]

Bye, bye lightning

 

[DavidSchaub]

This seems like a weird reading of the law.

Suggesting that old lighting-port phones that have already been made, couldn't be sold in the EU in January feels like a massive e-Waste disaster, wasn't the point of the law?

I had thought that the law only impacts NEW products being introduced.

As an alternate theory:

Perhaps the SE3 and 14 are being pulled because the SE4 is coming, and it is going to replace the SE3 in name, and the iPhone14 in price point?

 

[Octothorpe]

I'm all for progress, but convincing my elderly mother is another story. Knowing Apple wants to go towards an all-screen display, can they just create a "Dynamic Button" island or something?

My mother is in love with her button....

 

[theluggage]

Very sad. And spineless of Apple not to pull all its products out of the EU in protest.

Yes. How dare the EU force Apple to do what they had to do anyway (needed to add 4-5k video and USB4/TB to iPad Pro and future high-end iPhones sold as content-creation devices) - and which they'd already adopted across the Mac range.

Still, this way Apple can blame the evil EU for forcing you to buy a new clock radio stand.

Apple Authorized Resellers in the EU will be able to continue selling the iPhones until their remaining inventory is depleted, the report said.

Translation: Apple has shiny new replacements for the iPhone SE and 14 with USB-C coming Real Soon Now, existing stocks have seen them at least up to Christmas, so its not worth them making any more just now - especially German/French (+ whatever extra requirements Switzerland has) localised ones.

 

[dannyyankou]

This seems like a weird reading of the law.

Suggesting that old lighting-port phones that have already been made, couldn't be sold in the EU in January feels like a massive e-Waste disaster, wasn't the point of the law?

I had thought that the law only impacts NEW products being introduced.

As an alternate theory:

Perhaps the SE3 and 14 are being pulled because the SE4 is coming, and it is going to replace the SE3 in name, and the iPhone14 in price point?

When they say “new”, they mean new out the box. Not newly introduced. I think at least, I can be wrong. So refurbished and used devices don’t need to have USB C I believe.

 

[foobarbaz]

Big deal. Let the Europeans stuck in the Eurozone buy them online if they want them.

Why would they want them? Nobody should invest anything into Lightning at this point, let alone an almost 3 year old phone. Honestly, they should probably discontinue them everywhere.

 

[theluggage]

Suggesting that old lighting-port phones that have already been made, couldn't be sold in the EU in January feels like a massive e-Waste disaster, wasn't the point of the law?

Even the article contradicts that:

Apple Authorized Resellers in the EU will be able to continue selling the iPhones until their remaining inventory is depleted, the report said.

Pretty sure Apple is briar-patching here - the USB-C switch was inevitable anyway (Apple co-developed USB-C and it oretty much is Lightning 2) - and lightning was the "connector for the next decade" a decade ago. Changing the connector is still going to tick a lot of people off, so blame the EU.

I had thought that the law only impacts NEW products being introduced.

Good luck finding the actual law & interpreting it if you do. (AFAIK "EU Directives" are instructions that it is up to member states to implement, anyway).

If you could, I expect it will contain several pages of legalese on what constitutes a "new product" to stop manufacturers claiming that everything is an existing product (or there will be legal precedent to establish that). Put simply - a 2024 Porche 911 can't get away with no seatbelts and leaded petrol.

 

[xyz01]

This seems like a weird reading of the law.

Suggesting that old lighting-port phones that have already been made, couldn't be sold in the EU in January feels like a massive e-Waste disaster, wasn't the point of the law?

I had thought that the law only impacts NEW products being introduced.

As an alternate theory:

Perhaps the SE3 and 14 are being pulled because the SE4 is coming, and it is going to replace the SE3 in name, and the iPhone14 in price point?

There has been a transition period of a couple of years to replace products with compliant ones, the transition ends now.

 

[JosephAW]

Don't feel alone, Apple abandoned the iPhone 14 Pro in the US by not supporting AI in iOS 18.

 

[theluggage]

When they say “new”, they mean new out the box. Not newly introduced. I think at least, I can be wrong. So refurbished and used devices don’t need to have USB C I believe.

...and a "new production run" of an "old" model isn't guaranteed to be the exact same product as before - components may be changed or re-sourced, defects corrected, minor improvements added - so the actual legislation is unlikely to give carte blanche to keep making new batches and calling them "existing products".

 

[Expos of 1969]

Why would they want them? Nobody should invest anything into Lightning at this point, let alone an almost 3 year old phone. Honestly, they should probably discontinue them everywhere.

What strange comments. There is nothing wrong with lightning and there is nothing wrong with the SE 3. If you do not want either, spend your funds on something else and do not make such ridiculous comments in a public forum.

 

[AND411]

Very sad. And spineless of Apple not to pull all its products out of the EU in protest.

Finally, the entry with the request to completely stop selling their products in the EU comes first! Congratulations! I think that Apple Park is already developing strategies on how to compensate for the loss of sales from one of the company's most important markets.
They could increase the upgrade prices for Macs and iPads by 300% for the rest of the world.

 

[WildCowboy]

Good luck finding the actual law & interpreting it if you do. (AFAIK "EU Directives" are instructions that it is up to member states to implement, anyway).

If you could, I expect it will contain several pages of legalese on what constitutes a "new product" to stop manufacturers claiming that everything is an existing product (or there will be legal precedent to establish that). Put simply - a 2024 Porche 911 can't get away with no seatbelts and leaded petrol.

We covered the most relevant explanation in our earlier article on this situation, noting that it applies on the individual unit level, not to models in general, so that's why Apple can't just keep making and selling these indefinitely as an existing product.

There's much more detail in the EU's guide to explain what it means for a specific unit to be made available on the market or placed on the market. Units that have been passed along to third-party retailers, carriers, etc. have already been distributed, so those retailers can continue to sell through existing stocks. Things are tougher for Apple selling direct. We saw a similar situation in the U.S. with the Apple Watch blood oxygen feature that was barred from import. Apple had to stop selling Apple Watches with it more or less immediately, but retailers like Best Buy kept selling through existing stock of models with it enabled for months.

 

[B4U]

So, we are going get a discount for these here, right? A cheap burn phone would be nice to have. (just kidding)

 

[one more]

Translation: Apple has shiny new replacements for the iPhone SE and 14 with USB-C coming Real Soon Now, existing stocks have seen them at least up to Christmas, so its not worth them making any more just now - especially German/French (+ whatever extra requirements Switzerland has) localised ones.

I believe it is the same model sold across the whole of Switzerland and probably across the whole of Europe, people just choose different regions and languages during setup, while the hardware stays identical.

 

[ab2c4]

I'm all for progress, but convincing my elderly mother is another story. Knowing Apple wants to go towards an all-screen display, can they just create a "Dynamic Button" island or something?

My mother is in love with her button....

I have never understood why they went the gestures route instead of going with an on screen home button, all of our lives would be so much easier.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Don't feel alone, Apple abandoned the iPhone 14 Pro in the US by not supporting AI in iOS 18.

With the AI "support" that the 15 Pro and 16 has, 14 owners are missing nothing whatsoever.

 

[SidricTheViking]

I'm all for progress, but convincing my elderly mother is another story. Knowing Apple wants to go towards an all-screen display, can they just create a "Dynamic Button" island or something?

My mother is in love with her button....

One workaround is to turn on Assistive Touch, which leaves a permanent and moveable ‘Home’ button on the display — General > Accessibility > Touch > Assistive Touch. This virtual button then allows a number of actions to be taken.

 

[victorvictoria]

Why would they want them? Nobody should invest anything into Lightning at this point, let alone an almost 3 year old phone. Honestly, they should probably discontinue them everywhere.

Agreed. But, that's what they're doing already!