Apple's New 16-Inch MacBook Pro Charger Has a Compatibility Issue

[theluggage]

It's an entirely illusory "option"—no manufacturer is going to make 2 SKUs of every single product

Order a MacBook Air from the US online store and you get a choice of 3 different power supply options (Not to mention 4 colours, 2 processor options, multiple memory/storage options and a bunch of different different keyboard layouts).

So please don't try and claim that adding "no power supply" as one of those options is somehow inconceivable.

 

[Bug-Creator]

...but the old design allowed you to use a third party 2-pin C7 lead which wouldn't be grounded.

All Apple chargers I've seen either have a fixed 2 prong plug or a removable 2 prong plug which could be replaced with a cable. With really old stuff (PowerBooks) a 3 prong (grounded) cable would have been included.
But still "not grounded" was and is the default.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I almost never use Apple's default bundled chargers anyways, since they each have only 1 port, and in this day and age, I am turning more to multi-port charging solutions to manage the myriad of devices I need to charge and manage.

Absolutely this.

Any Apple chargers that were included with various devices, are sitting in the junk drawer. I have zero use for them and I'm sure there are plenty of others like me. I really don't even need the CABLES included with the devices, but those are at least smaller & lighter so don't make the packaging (much) bigger or cost more in shipping.

It certainly makes sense to me that if I buy (for example) an iPhone, I'm given.... an iPhone. I don't need a charger, cable, headphones, or charging stand (all of which were included in early models of the iPhone). Some people certainly DO need those items - and they're available, if you do. But it is truly WASTEFUL to give one out to everyone, just so those few that need it don't get offended that it wasn't included.

 

[theluggage]

And lest we forget, the plug has been exactly the same on every MacBook charger for the last 20+ years and there has never been any "ecosystem" built around it.

More a microbiome than an ecosystem but....

2 Pcs DGTRD Mac AC Adapter European Travel Charger Converter Spare Connector Replace Plugs for A-pple Macbook Ipod Iphone I-pad Power Adapter etc

compatible with all A-pple Macbooks Power Adapter; compatible with A-pple i-phone i-pad i-pod i-book power adapter; compatible with macbook charger, macbook magsafe power adapter & magsafe 2 power adapter, A-pple 10W/12W/35W/45W/61W/67W/75W/85W Power adapter etc

www.amazon.co.uk

Travel Charger Converter US Duck head Plug, Spare Connector for iPod, iPhone,iPad Tablets, and MacBook AC Power Adapter (2x US Plug) - Universal Travel Accessory in White

The Travel Charger Converter is the ultimate solution for anyone who travels internationally and needs a reliable way to charge their devices. Featuring a removable US duck head plug, making it an essential accessory for tech-savvy travelers. With its smart design, this charger converter allows...

www.amazon.co.uk

Power Adapter Extension Cable

Power Adapter Extension Cable makes it easy to add extra length to your Apple power adapter.

www.apple.com

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/102747 (now discontinued)

Plus people like me who habitually use C7-to-UK cables with Apple PSUs, as well as C7-to-US and C7-to-EU 2-pin cables instead of adapters when travelling...

You're right that I really can't see this as Tim Apple's cunning plan to make their next trillion - More likely this will turn out to be some regional regulations breached by the mere possibility of using non-earthed or too-low-current cables - but if they roll out this new proprietary design worldwide it will still be annoying. A real duckhead move.

 

[Reason077]

This plug has been the same for like 20 years and watch people here scream bloody murder about “planned obsolescence” 😂

A lot more than 20 years. Cables from old 1980s/90s radios etc work just fine with Apple chargers because they use (a compatible variation on) the standard C7 plug. It's absurd, and very customer hostile, that Apple would go and switch to a weird proprietary plug now.

 

[jarman92]

Order a MacBook Air from the US online store and you get a choice of 3 different power supply options (Not to mention 4 colours, 2 processor options, multiple memory/storage options and a bunch of different different keyboard layouts).

So please don't try and claim that adding "no power supply" as one of those options is somehow inconceivable.

So your defense to "no manufacturer would make 2 SKUs of every product" is to point out that Apple would have to make at least six different SKUs of one particular product? Fascinating.

 

[Reason077]

Apple has been good about using industry standard connectors in recent years

*Ahem* MagSafe ... grrrr! 😡

 

[FreakinEurekan]

*Ahem* MagSafe ... grrrr! 😡

Oh, spare me please. You can use USB-C if you don't want MagSafe.

 

[transpo1]

No, it's literally EU law that manufacturers can't include chargers in the box.

Unbelievable.

 

[whitby]

I can only think that this is either a mistake or a fake. Why would you swap out a standard connector and completely obsolete all the adapters and cable extensions without announcing it. And it appears to be in only one or two parts of the world. I know Apple have been making some 'interesting' decisions as of late, but this is nonsense. We are missing something here.

 

[johnrlaporta]

You are correct, the law says if you include one with a charger then you have to include one without a charger. The spirit of the law was to offer choice and reduce waste.

Apple decided that if they didn’t include ANY chargers (EU) then they would not contravene the law - as there is no law to say that you must include a charger in the first place.

The Apple application is within the law but goes against the intended spirit, it benefits Apple by saving money on a charger but also by reducing weight (and in turn shipping costs - wholesale & retail) and is a detriment to the customer who didn’t save any money on the product without a charger and will now have to pay for an appropriate one.

As I said the other day….basically the finger to the EU for doing this in the first place.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I can only think that this is either a mistake or a fake. Why would you swap out a standard connector and completely obsolete all the adapters and cable extensions without announcing it. And it appears to be in only one or two parts of the world. I know Apple have been making some 'interesting' decisions as of late, but this is nonsense. We are missing something here.

If it’s only happening in specific locations, regulation changes in those locations is the likely reason.

 

[whitby]

If it’s only happening in specific locations, regulation changes in those locations is the likely reason.

As likely as any other reason. Still odd without an Apple announcement, even if it is a technical bulletin. Those chargers could end up in other countries and confuse the 'hell' out of anyone picking it up, to the point that they might consider them to be fakes.

 

[theluggage]

No, it's literally EU law that manufacturers can't include chargers in the box.

However many times you keep saying that, it still won't become true.
Manufacturers have to offer the option of buying the product without a charger. How they organise that - how much less they charge for the no-charger version, whether they offer an optional free or discounted charger, whether they physically add it to the box or not, is up to them. Apple have chosen to remove the charger and sell it separately at full price - and, at least in the UK, there's no evidence that they've reduced the price of the no-charger Mac by a single penny: the UK MBA (no charger) costs £1099, the US MBA (with charger) costs $1099 - "cross off the dollar and write a £" has been SOP for UK Mac prices for years.

So your defense to "no manufacturer would make 2 SKUs of every product" is to point out that Apple would have to make at least six different SKUs of one particular product? Fascinating.

No, the defence is that they already offer dozens of different permutations for each product due to colour, CPU, RAM size, keyboard layout and (in the US) power supply type for each product, so quite clearly offering those sorts of options isn't the end-of-argument obstacle you seem to think it is.

If I go to buy - say - a rechargeable power tool (not covered by the common charger directive) - it's common to get the choice of the "bare tool" versus a "starter kit" including batteries and a charger (usually at a better price than the separate parts). A Raspberry Pi? You can get just the computer or a starter kit with PSU and SD card (even for the consumer-oriented fully assembled Pi 400/500 version, we're not talking about bare boards for developers). In fact, it's pretty ubiquitous for computer parts to come in both minimal "white box" versions with just the device and "full" versions with all the trimmings, cables and accessories.

...but somehow if you're talking about a laptop and power supply, that sort of choice somehow becomes unthinkable "because multiple SKUs"? Nope.

 

[DogHouseDub]

The first model is a directional plug meant to correspond with a directional pin end that goes into a 110V receptacle.

The second model is completely reversible for a 220V feed.

I would really prefer that a grounded option was available anyway.

Aren't the designs equally reversible?

Direction is dictated by the protruding metal guide, which can only slot into one side of an adapter. The business end of the old adapter was grooved on both sides and, hypothetically, reversible, except for the metal guide.

I may have misunderstood your explanation of reversibility.

 

[Parowdy]

It’s a joke bro 😂 Jesus

Can’t ever be sure about that here on MR until you call someone out. Sorry then.

 

[tic]

I can only think that this is either a mistake or a fake. Why would you swap out a standard connector and completely obsolete all the adapters and cable extensions without announcing it. And it appears to be in only one or two parts of the world. I know Apple have been making some 'interesting' decisions as of late, but this is nonsense. We are missing something here.

Not fake.

As I posted above with images, I also have been delivered a MacBook Pro 16" M5 Pro with this new connector. This is not just one person reporting the new connector, many have. As you say, I don't see any logic behind the change. Unless there is some safety improvement, which I can't see, why do this?

At the moment Apple Australia don't even offer a compatible power adapter power extension cord. Those were always essential if you wanted the power adapter to be grounded. The provided plug does not include ground.

Apple are now selling 2 versions of the 140W USB-C power adapter. This is crazy complication they have introduced, as for consumers, it is hard to identify which version you have. Apple has made it difficult for their customers to purchase power adapter accessories like power extension cables or international power plugs.

I recon this may be a mistake that has slipped through their supply chain. Perhaps the supplier of these components made the change without properly consulting Apple. Unliklely to happen, but it makes more sense than any other explanation I can think of.

 

[tic]

But the existing ones in Australia and China already have a grounded plug. The two pins, plus the metal button are the three connections for the extension cable. I'm Australian and have a few of them around, and they're all 3 pin grounded plugs.

So it doesn't make sense that the change would happen only in the countries with the Type I connector, when the existing design already had grounded plugs.

The power adapter is capable to be grounded. BUT, it doesn't come with a grounded plug out-of-the-box. The standard plug provided for Australian models is 2 prong, without the ground connector. You always have had to purchase the power extension cable to get a 3 pronged plug that included the ground connection.

I always preferred to use grounded power adapters as without the ground, the MacBook Pro case would have a 'fuzzy' feel when charging - there was some current leaking onto the case. Touching the case would complete a circuit through your body to ground. This has happened with every aluminium MBP, MBA I have ever owned.

I'm not an electrician or electrical engineer - so can't explain the details.

 

[Mainyehc]

I have at least 4 different MacBook/PowerBook power adaptors from the Steve Jobs era that don't interchange extension cables with each other.

What are you talking about? Unless you jumped straight from a G3 Pismo (or was it only after the Titanium PowerBook G4 that they switched to the iconic white power bricks?) to a MacBook, that doesn’t make any sense. The only products that aren’t compatible with Apple extension cords are the smaller, non-grounded power bricks (and I own most of them, except the last and smaller variant of the iPod USB-A brick), but even those are compatible with the straight-to-the-mains adapters, whether they came with them, were bundled with a PowerBook/MacBook brick or were bought separately as part of the now-defunct World Travel Adapter Kit, and especially with standard IEC C8 cables.

 

[tic]

Here is an image comparing Apple Australian power plugs. The new plug connector is on the bottom, the old plug connector (based on IEC C7/C8) is on the top. This clearly shows the difference in spacing between the electrical connections on the new connector.

 

[Reason077]

Oh, spare me please. You can use USB-C if you don't want MagSafe.

True. But I’d prefer if they didn’t include the silly proprietary cable in the box.

And I’d much rather have an additional USB-C plug on my MacBook instead of a MagSafe port I’m not using taking up space. USB-C would be far more useful!

 

[Abazigal]

You are correct, the law says if you include one with a charger then you have to include one without a charger. The spirit of the law was to offer choice and reduce waste.

Apple decided that if they didn’t include ANY chargers (EU) then they would not contravene the law - as there is no law to say that you must include a charger in the first place.

The Apple application is within the law but goes against the intended spirit, it benefits Apple by saving money on a charger but also by reducing weight (and in turn shipping costs - wholesale & retail) and is a detriment to the customer who didn’t save any money on the product without a charger and will now have to pay for an appropriate one.

People want change but they don't want to change.

Everyone pays lip service to being environmentally friendly and all, until they are asked to actually make a real change to their way of life, then suddenly all pretence goes out the window.

The reality is that nobody in their right mind is going to not take a charger when it's being offered for free. I have invested in a ton of multi-port charging solutions from Anker, and I would probably still take the weaker chargers from Apple given the opportunity (because why not), and then proceed to just keep them in a box together with all my other excess, unused chargers and cables till the end of time.

Anyone else has photos of large boxes of unused chargers they too would like to share?

 

[Shirasaki]

This plug has been the same for like 20 years and watch people here scream bloody murder about “planned obsolescence” 😂

It IS planned obsolescence because it changes things that should’ve never been changed or needed to be changed. At this point Apple might as well just remove that plug and abandon extension cable idea altogether.

 

[wikiverse]

...but the old design allowed you to use a third party 2-pin C7 lead which wouldn't be grounded. So it's possible that they got pulled up for that. Or, that the increased Wattage of the power supply meant it needed a compulsory ground pin in some jurisdictions so they had to block use of the old, 2-pin duck-head plugs.

Still - that's just speculation, plus moving to a 3-pin IEC socket would have been a nicer solution.

Here is an image comparing Apple Australian power plugs. The new plug connector is on the bottom, the old plug connector (based on IEC C7/C8) is on the top. This clearly shows the difference in spacing between the electrical connections on the new connector.

So the new connector plug is still 2 prong anyway. The change doesn't force a grounded pin, because Apple aren't even using a grounded pin on the plug.

Given that there is no extension cable for this new design - which has the grounded pin, Apple are forcing an ungrounded connection.

I was about to buy a new MBP, but I rely so heavily on the extension cable. I might just hold off now until Apple explains what is going on. If I get a choice, I'm going to want the same power adapter as the rest of the world.

If I can't use the international plugs I already have for apple power adapters, and I can't use the extension cable, I'm going to have to try to put some sort of power travel adapter into the wall, and then hang a heavy white box off of that - which is just going to fall out and I won't be able to charge my laptop when I travel.

I have old chargers from old laptops that I would need to use. Not 140W, but they should be ok, but this is just a real lack of foresight from Apple and a new MBP user likely won't have old chargers they can use.

It also makes no sense that it is exclusive to Australian/Chinese Type-I sockets. Nothing about that standard has changed in either country, and the UK and EU use 230-250V, 50Hz power too. So why no change there?

 

[Reason077]

The power adapter is capable to be grounded. BUT, it doesn't come with a grounded plug out-of-the-box. The standard plug provided for Australian models is 2 prong, without the ground connector. You always have had to purchase the power extension cable to get a 3 pronged plug that included the ground connection.

Correct. Even the UK 3-pin version of the plug (the UK plug design requires the ground pin to ALWAYS be present) is not grounded. The ground pin is there, of course, but there's no metal strip to connect it to the grounding "lug" on the charger end.

But with the extension cable, you can see the metal part inside where the "lug" slides in, making a ground connection.

Some old / low-power versions of the charger (eg: old USB-A iPhone chargers) have a plastic lug instead of a metal one, so they're never grounded. The extension cable's connector is keyed in such a way that it prevents it being used with those chargers.

I guess maybe there's some regulation that requires grounding if the cable is over a certain length?