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Apple Stops Selling iPhone 14 and iPhone SE in More EU Countries
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Of course not. Regardless of manufacturer, this rule applies to all phones, tablets, digital cameras, earbuds, headphones and headsets, handheld video game consoles, portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, and portable navigation systems that are rechargeable via a wired cable, and operate with a power delivery of up to 100W.
In 2026 the rule extends to laptops too.
The EU didn't set usb-c as the standard and then chisel it in stone like the 10 commandments. It's a regulation, and can be changed with a few days worth of work.
A new port shouldn't be introduced, unless it's open, a standard, and non-proprietary, period.
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The rule explicitly allows devices that are already "stocked for sale" to continue to be sold. You just can't manufacture or import new ones unless they are compliant.
Which isn’t going to happen. When they were presented with the superior NACS plug for electric car charging the EU’s response was “we already decided on a standard years ago”. So the EU is stuck with a much worse connector. Same thing would happen in consumer electronics.
Disagree here. But doesn’t matter because no one is going to develop one thanks to the EU thinking it is qualified to design consumer electronics.
Whether it's a superior connector or not is honestly irrelevant in the EV space
What REALLY matters is that they have a standard they decided on and fully leaned into and is what you find everywhere you try to charge
I say this as a 4 year EV owner
The old "don't let perfect be the enemy of good" is somewhat in effect here
This is more or less exactly what USB-C is, isn't it? Apple were the first company to put USB-C on laptops, and presumably played a significant part in its development at the USB Implementors Forum. John Gruber even has claimed that according to his sources, "USB-C is an Apple invention and that they gave it to the standard bodies".
To me it is .. and is just fine (USB-C), yes
But it sounds like many folks think Lightning is better and further development of that would have been better?
I don't really know
I don't even care -- I like Lightning -- I like USB-C ... but I LOVE the idea of just having one of them
4 year EV owner here too. I’d rather the market take the time and get a better answer than the government coming in and mandating something. Let the market work!
Pardon the AI summary of the differences, but I found this a perfect encapsulation of this debate:
EU mandating worse solutions and then not changing when presented with a better option is, in my opinion, a perfect example of why they shouldn’t be jumping in to regulate things before markets mature. Like they’re currently trying to regulate AI when even the major AI players don’t know what the industry will look like in five years.
But my point for bringing up EV charging was more that I think anyone who says “the EU will just change the standard” is crazy. We have a recent example of them doing the opposite - sticking with a worse solution because it’s the standard.
I just don't think it's a good comparison because of how incredibly expensive and resource intensive it is to change connectors for cars and charging stations. People keep cars for WAY longer than tech devices and charging stations are major long term investments (often 6 figures+ per station) and thus, yes, it'd be nice to have the best possible connector, but what was more important (I'd imagine) in the EU eyes was to get a standard as quickly as possible so the rollouts could get going.
It's a way broader issue they are trying to address by pushing EV adoption and the priority was almost certainly doing whatever would get the quickest spike in the adoption curve and charging concern is a huge barrier to entry for converts.
Yes, the svelte NACS connector is nice, but it doesn't actually enable anything that the CCS connectors can't do (as you know as an EV owner)
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No, CCS2 is not a worse connector than NACS. Yes, it's physically bigger and heavier than NACS, but not unreasonably so. The extra size does have some advantages if you want to achieve higher power levels in the future because it leaves more room for bigger conductors and active cooling, etc. And CCS2 is fully backwards compatible with all existing Type-2 AC charging infrastructure in Europe, something that can't be said for NACS vehicles in America: they need an adapter to charge on most existing AC chargers.
But, critically, CCS2 has the extra pins required to support 3-phase AC charging, which is essential in many European countries. NACS can't support 3-phase and simply isn't appropriate for Europe because of this!
In terms of signalling, etc, NACS and CCS2 are identical. So adapters are easy to do in the (rare) event that someone imports an American-market car to Europe or vice-versa.
It's also worth remembering that basically the entire world except for China, Japan, and North America uses the "European" CCS2 connector. None of those countries outside Europe were forced into it: they use it because it's the best connector available and there are great advantages to standardisation.
I didn't even know this!
Thank you for adding this detail ... so actually, CCS2 as a standard makes perfect sense!
Seems really odd to make it apply to older devices... So what all of them now go into landfill? Anyone with older cables must throw them in landfill?
WEIRD.
WEIRD.
It still makes very little sense: iPhone 14 was introduced two years ago. It is not a new device.
At the risk of being very off topic it’s a comically worse connector. I have a lot of experience with both connectors and I promise it’s significantly worse. Cable is heavy and unwieldy, particularly when it’s cold out. They break much more easily than NACS connectors. It’s like the poster child of something designed by committee and if I didn’t know any better I’d suspect it was intentionally designed by car companies to make EVs less desirable than gas cars.
Not going to three phased charging other than to say while it is a point in favor of CCS, it doesn’t mean NACS “isn’t appropriate” for Europe. Especially as I expect it to be less and less relevant as time moves on.
Seems really weird that you just toss things in the landfill instead of keep using them, passing them on to people than can use them, or recycling.
Thank you, EU, for standing up to that greedy corporate scumbag Tim Cook! He wanted to keep Lightning around as long as possible in order to make even more money, particularly though licensing deals with third-party manufacturers via the MFi Program.
USB-C is more user-friendly than Lightning, but Cook prioritizes profits over user-friendliness.
USB-C is more user-friendly than Lightning, but Cook prioritizes profits over user-friendliness.
It’s been well reported that Lightening licensing made Apple “a rounding error’s” worth of money. They were not holding off on switching because of money.
Strong disagree. Lightening is better at being a plug than USB-C, which is all 99% of iPhone users use the port on their phone for.
Tech nerds need to remember that we’re the outliers.
I'm glad I live in America, where it appears no one is mandating what connectors a phone must have.
The world has so many problems and the EU has been reduced to THIS?
The world has so many problems and the EU has been reduced to THIS?
But I'll bet 99% of iPhone users have other devices in their life and they either all or mostly all use USB-C
It's a win for that general user to be able to plug "everything into anything"
("anything" more and more likely being a USB-C something)
I couldn't share the lightning cable with the multitude of other tech that is around using usb-c. My wife uses android, both my laptop is usb-c. iPhone using its own special cable is asinine. Proprietary tech needs to die a quick death.
I'm only speaking for myself, obviously, but if the iPhone still used lightning, I would be gone.
Agree, but still not the government’s place to mandate it. Vote with your wallet.
The governments place is whatever the populace decides it is, including mandating what business can and can't do within its borders.
Businesses are not special snowflakes. They operate at the pleasure of said governments.
Exactly. Heck, even Macs have had USB-C since 2015. But Tim Cook was too clueless to realize that iPhones should have the same connector standards as Macs.