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Apple Does Not Include a Charger With All New MacBooks in UK and EU
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You will find that usually what affects the EU affects the UK as well as people tend not to want to do seperate products and much of the UK supply will come via EU.
Last year had a shortage of Wi-Fi kit as EU passed new rule that all Wi-Fi devices storage had to be encrypted so kit out there recalled. Now whilst UK not in EU then the same Wi-Fi kit used (usually Power over Ethernet) so affected me in the UK.
However Apple dropping the supply of the Power Supply with the device is how Apple chosen to interpret.
What the regulation says is that IF you supply the Charger/Power Supply with the device then have to offer an option without the Charger/Power Supply.
There is no regulation out their that requires the manufacturer to supply the Charger/Power Supply with the device so creates the loophole and open to use that Apple has done so.
So as Apple has chosen to drop the supply of the Charger/Power Supply then they are fully 100% compliant with the letter of the regulation. They no longer supply the charger with the device so they do not have to provide the option to supply without.
Fault lies with the regulation not being correctly worded.
Instead of using the IF provide the Charger/PSU then should have stated that Manufacturers will be required to supply devices with option for supplying the charger/PSU At no additional cost or supplying the device without the Charger/PSU.
I am just a dumb local with no law experience but even I can tell what a dumbly worded regulation was drafted here.
Apple have 100% complied with the new EU regulation. Just not necessarily how people would want them too.
No the EU did a poor job at he wording of the regulation by saying IF provide the Charger,
Should have said that required to supply the charger still but provide an option to remove the charger.
Apples legal experts are a lot better then me at reading the law but by saying IF provide the charger then Apple can simply say well if we don’t provide the charger with the device then comply with this regulation as only applies IF provide the charger.
There is no regulation that states Apple has to provide the charger, simply that if did provide it would have to provide option without.
NightFox
macrumors 68040
Except no. I've got more individual USB-C chargers than I can shake a stick at and I don't ever recall buying one. We have a couple of Anker charging blocks with multiple ports around the house, so when people want to recharge phones, iPad, Switches etc they just plug into those and any charger that came with the device goes into my box
The UK isn't part of the European Union, technically correct - but unfortunately Brexit is a failure. How?
Because we didn't do a complete "Brexit". We did a half-assed one. We still have to trade with the EU, so we are still tied to most things under the EU law...including THIS particular issue. The Northern Ireland-ROI issue etc. The newly written laws for the UK are more or less a copy-pasta of the EU law.
A HUGE facepalm on how a massive fail this is, because not only we are still tied to the EU (just not "officially"), but we lost the right to vote for anything that is set in place for EU.
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Powerbooky
macrumors demi-god
I have separate USB-C chargers too, but only low power models (around 50W). High power adapters usually run so hot that they turn off within 30 minutes. And those temperatures... I don't want that in the room of my kids, too dangerous.
Personally I prefer the ones provided by Apple since they last longer than most other brands. I had a couple from Belkin (15W) and those failed within one year. Here's a very good technical review of those Apple chargers.
Stupid EU/EC regulation though: if I want an adapter with a new device, it should be a free option. Now I have spend extra money.
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User 6502
macrumors 65816
You will find that complying with the "letter" of the law is not good enough in Europe. Our legal system is very different, as Apple found out with all the pathetic debacle on third party stores. Here you have to complying with the spirit of the law, as well as the letter, otherwise in due time the law will bite back and you get more restrictive laws or fines as it happened to Apple again and again. When that happens, hopefully Apple will not start another pointless fight, but will just stop adopting anti consumer attitudes.
We are not even in the E.U and yet it still affects us. In some ways it is not a bad idea, I wonder how many people have a load of USB power adaptors stuck in drawers. I know I have a fair few and most of them are in use for various things, but a lot of them are older, so would certainly not be capable of running a computer.
But will they run a computer? I have a few, but certainly not powerful enough to keep a computer charged while in use,
The_Gream
macrumors 6502
Could people STOP using the word free. NOTHING is FREE.
Apple has chosen to not include a charger with their laptops in the EU, and it sounds like the laptop’s price is reduced by the cost of the charger. If you need a charger, you pay a little more, if you don’t need one you save a little.
My goodness people, calm yourselves. The fact this thread has 6+ pages on pointless stupidity just shows me how non-intelligent the human race is becoming. 🤦
Apple has chosen to not include a charger with their laptops in the EU, and it sounds like the laptop’s price is reduced by the cost of the charger. If you need a charger, you pay a little more, if you don’t need one you save a little.
My goodness people, calm yourselves. The fact this thread has 6+ pages on pointless stupidity just shows me how non-intelligent the human race is becoming. 🤦
Er, I do and it isn't made by Apple. I suspect that I am not alone, especially since Apple is obliged to provide a non-proprietary charging port these days.
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You can buy a charger with it if you need one or use basically any recent USB-C phone charger you already own. Apple unbundled it in the EU to comply with their new e-waste laws.
Mac Fly (film)
macrumors 68040
mrboult
macrumors 6502
Wow. Is this Apple being pretty against the EU rulings of recent years?? That’s such a bad look it makes me want to leave more than anything else.
Phones without chargers is fine. Any usb port will charge them fine. But 35w+ ports aren’t exactly everywhere. This is total bull 💩
Phones without chargers is fine. Any usb port will charge them fine. But 35w+ ports aren’t exactly everywhere. This is total bull 💩
And "stupid". Made by bureaucrats with limited common sense, practical spirit and touch with reality.
Er... pretty darn high? Phones have been coming with USB-C chargers for years & people are continually losing/breaking/upgrading phones.
...and if I didn't already have a suitable charger I'd want at least the option to get a decent, multi-port one that could charge all of my mobile devices together - not the "minimum viable product" bundled with the device.
Well, that interpretation is up to Apple, not the EU. Or retailers - my last Android phone officially came without a charger, but Amazon offered a bundle with a charger for the same price.
Doesn't really help the environmental argument though, because without either compulsion or an economic incentive, most people are just going to take the free charger.
Also - those basic chargers probably only cost Apple about $5 to make - they're not going to cut the price by $20 if they leave it out.
It's also encouraging a competitive market in better/cheaper third party USB-C power supplies.
They were heading to landfill anyway, because Apple were always going to switch to USB-C anyway - new iPhones and iPads needed higher charging current, full USB 3.2 support, full DisplayPort, Thunderbolt etc.
Apple launched Lightning as "The connector for the next decade"... well over a decade ago. By the time the EU mandate came along, Apple had already standardised on USB-C for Macs, and extended that to the iPad Pro so not rolling it out to iPhones made zero sense. Apple were one of the key developers of USB-C anyway, so why wouldn't they eat their own dogfood?
Why? Maybe some day we'll switch to magic room-temperature superconducting connectors that deliver 1kW through a plug that you need tweezers to insert - but for the moment, the future for smaller chargeable devices is wireless (no bulky connector, units can be hermetically sealed) and the EU directive only applies to wired charging.
The key difference between USB-C and the previous MicroUSB mandate is that it's a smart connector standard including an extendable protocol for power delivery. The max power has already increased from 100W to 240W without needing a new connector.
think about the practicality of offering both options. Its worse for the environment. you'd rarely have the correct mix. So, you don't include one and stay on the safest side of both the law and the law of demand.
All I'm saying is this comparison doesn't seem valid. First the Neo just needs a charger for 20W that is way cheaper, even from Apple and more significant the MBP was reduced by the price of the charger - around 100€.
The_Gream
macrumors 6502
This could easily be solved by including it in the box and offering customers a giant trash can by the door in which to toss unwanted chargers. Unbundling issue solved!