Still loads of stock in stores. Why not give free lighting to USB c adapter and USB c lead with older phones?
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Apple Begins Discontinuing iPhone SE and iPhone 14 in EU Ahead of USB-C Requirement
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Why? In the real world, basically no one cares about the connector. You say “why would they want them” as if it was a minimally relevant factor for more than 5% of the people.
No worries, Apple have a large global market to sell their existing inventory to. They have known this for 2~ years already. You can read the directive and you will know what’s the purpose of it was.
Directives set out objectives that all EU member states must achieve.
The Directive (EU) 2022/2380 (amending Directive 2014/53/EU) is transposed into national laws by member states, the core standards and objectives are generally the same.
“Placing on the Market” Principle:
• The EU considers a product “placed on the market” the first time it is sold, distributed, or made available within the EU.
• Even if a design or product originates decades ago (e.g., a 1963 Porsche 911), each unit sold after the relevant rules take effect must comply with current EU standards.
Example: A Porsche 911 built today in the style of 1963 would still need modern safety features (e.g., seatbelts) and meet current emissions standards if sold in the EU.
Or when a radio equipment is sold for the first time on the market such as an iPhone 12 would need to meet current standards to be allowed on the market.
And as the previous person referred to, guidelines are provided so you don’t need any legalese to understand it.
No discount on the SE 3 in the US Apple store.
Hopefully, Apple discounts the SE 3 just before the SE 4 is released.
Hopefully, Apple discounts the SE 3 just before the SE 4 is released.
Many people don't care about which cable they need to charge with and have many lightning cables laying around, and there are still plenty of people that want the home button as well as a small phone.
Exactly. If you're reading MacRumors, you're not the normal iPhone purchaser.
They only had about 5 years to release a new SE. Guess they think that another "look what the EU made us do" tantrum was worth it.
This. I can see the new SE replacing the iPhone 14 in the line-up at the $599 price point with the $449 price point abandoned (or perhaps the iPhone 14 droping to this price).
my GF gets annoyed that my 16 pro uses a different cable and that most cables around the house are usb c, and her 14 has it's own cable... so non-tech people are realising that universal connectors such as USB-C (which IMHO are technically superior) are better.
Heck I replaced my magic keyboard with a Logitech mx keys because my lightning cable died, and I just thought **** it, it's my last lightning product still in use.
This is very good. We have China to thank for getting the entire world out of "charger hell" where every device had its own custom charger, some 3 volts, some 5, or 6.3 and others at 9 volts. They passed a law requiring EVERY charger to be USB. This kept millions of chargers out of landfills. Now everyone uses USB charging, thanks to China.
Now it seems the EU has moved to standardize the other end of the cable to USB-C. I assume this will reduce the number of charger cables in landfills. It is a very small thing compared to the charger, but still, world wide, I'd not be surprised if old charger cables would fill a sports stadium. There are literally billions of these cables.
It’s just a choice Apple has made. Just like their older models suddenly disappear from the website when newer ones have been introduced.
Other stores will still sell the devices until their stock is depleted. So Apple will most likely just sell their inventory to one of those.
Shame your GF has difficulty in managing the situation that her phone has its own cable.
I like it so much, that I even bought a second one (open box, great deal).
I don’t think Apple will sell a more comfortable form factor any time soon. And no, I’m not interested in foldables.
Steve might have done this as he liked to pave his own path when disagreeing with others. Tim is all about the money; no way he would upset one shareholder with influence over his annual $100m stock grants!
Another - maybe more concrete advantage - is that along with USB-C, the EU have standardised on the USB Power Delivery protocol which means devices can negotiate how much voltage/current they can accept or deliver in a "future proof" & "backward compatible" way. That's probably more important than the shape of the connector.
Even if chargers had USB A at the charger end (which was an improvement) it was a lottery as to whether a 60W Brand X charger would charge a Brand Y phone at anything more than the minimum (4.5W ?) rate of USB-C.
The 14 Pro doesn't have the necessary NPU power to do AI on-device. Apple aren't going to cheat by passing requests up to their cloud servers for processing just to keep 14 Pro users happy.
The EU has shown that they can and will arbitrarily change the framework that businesses are working under even without clear quantitative reasons as to why. The sooner Apple stops producing non-USB-C devices, the quicker they can avoid some random lawsuit over “continuing to sell Lightning ports without providing options for others to sell Lightning ports” or some silliness.
Companies are wise to be careful regarding how they do business in the EU.
Companies are wise to be careful regarding how they do business in the EU.
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Spineless is licking corporate boots while they step over you for profit.
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