Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
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.
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.
 
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?
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.
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.
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.
 
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.
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.
 
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?
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).
 
Exactly. If you're reading MacRumors, you're not the normal iPhone purchaser.
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.
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.
 
Anyway will recommend buying iPhone 15 or newer today. Switch to USB C is good. Also expecting the next iPhone SE to be released in the next 3 to 4 months.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mganu
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?
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.
 
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.
Shame your GF has difficulty in managing the situation that her phone has its own cable.
 
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.
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.
 
Prediction: SE2 will release in March, look basically the same, but use USBC and an A-series chip capable of AI.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: gusmula
Very sad. And spineless of Apple not to pull all its products out of the EU in protest.
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!
 
  • Like
Reactions: AppliedMicro
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.

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

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.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JosephAW
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.
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.