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I'm assuming you're looking at this through a technological progress lens?

I say we also need to consider looking through an ecological lens. With a lot of things wireless these days, that connector is less of an issue. I for one would prefer them to preserve the environment in this instance.
In ten years they may have move to an NFC that can transfer data securely and quickly and only use this old connection for power. I'm pretty happy with that compromise I think
Everything is a compromise after all.

Sorry to move the goal posts but you brought up the environment. How much more energy is wasted to charge a phone using Qi wireless charging vs. a direct cable charger?
 
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Regular iPhone will be Magsafe-only/fully wireless, and the Pro will be USB-C Lol

It would be allowed, if it has no ports for charging at all, i.e. MagSafe/Qi-only.


Big USB all the way down.

So by the end of 2024 the iPhone will be portlets, nice middle finger to the EU if they do 😄

Amazes me how many people are excited to have an iPhone that if it the OS gets corrupted they have to send the iPhone to Apple for repairs just like the watch. Apple going port-less will be their next cash cow.
 
The products for 2024 have probably been finalized for awhile and now companies would be expected to change vendors and get new supplies?
This has been on the cards for years, and most companies (including Apple) are in the process of moving to USB-C anyway - if they haven't already shifted.

Any company that has committed to releasing 2024 products with micro-USB or proprietary charging ports pretty much deserves what they get.

I think the EU law is pretty pointless, but it's only nudging the industry in the direction it was going anyway.

In real life, today, microUSB is firmly on the way out (...and the USB 3 version of MicroUSB is a joke) and Lightning is 10 years old and overdue an update - it only sort-of supports USB 3.0 speeds, when high-end iPhones are being touted as much as photo/video cameras and could make use of USB4/Thunderbolt. Apple had a large hand in the USB-C spec anyhow and have been aggressively pushing it on Macs since 2016 (when it wasn't really ready...) - I don't know what possessed them to use Lightning on the Tragic Mouse and Trackpad after they'd gone USB-C for Macs...

(Note that I'm talking about mobile devices here - still not a fan of junking dedicated ports on desktops and laptops that don't need to funnel everything through a single hole in the case - but in reality even that ship is casting off it's ropes and whooping its siren).
 
Apple has used the Lightning connector for literally 10 years. Apple has used USB 2.0 connectors on iPhones since the very first iPhone in 2007, which is 15 years.

And moving to USB-C doesn’t mean iPhones will have faster USB speeds. USB-C still supports USB 2...
 
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Be nice to see finally happen. Apple should never have let it go this long.
Not to fix wireless charging next.

Maybe tech will get off it’s collective butt and adopt a standard instead of allowing the Government to define it for them.
 
(Note that I'm talking about mobile devices here - still not a fan of junking dedicated ports on desktops and laptops that don't need to funnel everything through a single hole in the case - but in reality even that ship is casting off it's ropes and whooping its siren).
I don’t think it applies to anything that needs over 100W. So laptops are fine to continue with bespoke ports. I may have misunderstood you though.

I do believe this is also aimed at people still sticking micro usb on phones, of which there are still plenty out there.
 
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USB-C is an inferior physical connector. I hope Apple can just go all wireless. My car, desk and bedside chargers are all Magsafe. If anything, I'd like to see Apple consolidate charging of Apple Watch to Magsafe like they did for AirPods. Otherwise, it's not a bad idea to consolidate charging to one standard, but it's still somewhat impractical for one size fits all and not the proper use of government.

And, one still has to carry several cables to charge multiple devices at once, even if they are all the same connector type.
 
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USB-C is an inferior physical connector. I hope Apple can just go all wireless. My car, desk and bedside chargers are all Magsafe. If anything, I'd like to see Apple consolidate charging of Apple Watch to Magsafe like they did for AirPods. Otherwise, it's not a bad idea to consolidate charging to one standard, but it's still somewhat impractical for one size fits all and not the proper use of government.

And, one still has to carry several cables to charge multiple devices at once, even if they are all the same connector type.
Greetings to the environment. Wireless charging today requires between 30 and 80% more energy. Imagine a billion devices being charged this way. Explain to your children that humanity wastes energy and destroys our planet only for convenience.

https://debugger.medium.com/wireles...-will-magsafe-help-the-iphone-12-668dcb683666
 
A USB-C connector doesn’t mean the port is any faster. I have a USB-C device that still operates using USB 2.0.

Also, I’m surprised cars aren’t somehow included in this. I just purchased a new car that still uses USB-A. It would have been nice if it was USB-C.
This is what people don’t understand. Also I still have the older lightning iPad that has USB 3 speeds.
 
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Not knowing anything about the law or the situation here, and despite wanting the adoption of USB-C, it’s crazy to me that a government can force Apple to do something like this.

What’s funny is there will probably be a new “standard” or technological advancement that is widely adopted in 5+ years. This stuff doesn’t seem to stay the same for long. Just 10 years ago we had the 30 pin connector.
 
Not knowing anything about the law or the situation here, and despite wanting the adoption of USB-C, it’s crazy to me that a government can force Apple to do something like this.

What’s funny is there will probably be a new “standard” or technological advancement that is widely adopted in 5+ years. This stuff doesn’t seem to stay the same for long. Just 10 years ago we had the 30 pin connector.
A lot of advancements have happened with USB-C, which is just a plug shape, but none have happened with Lightning.

We have already seen USB-C improve significantly in both data speed and power delivery, yet Apple has let Lightning languish, iPhones shoot 8K but transferring this big media files over Lightning takes forever compared to the same over fast USB-C. A thunderbolt 4 cable will still charge a plain USB-C device.
 
USB-C is just a plug shape. We have already seen the same plug shape improve significantly in both data speed and power delivery, yet Apple has let Lightning languish. A lot of advancements have happened with USB-C, but none have happened with Lightning.
The loss of proprietary control might have something to do with it.
 
Does this mean the iPhone 15 will be the only one available in the EU? Can’t get the previous gen anymore?
 
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And those purchases will work with EVERYTHING instead of only one product line from one company. And you'll only need to do that as your existing Lightning-based stuff is retired, not necessarily all at once.

If you believe this is a really big deal, make or seek out a USB-C to lightning dongle so you can keep using those cables with USB-C ports. Then as each finally fail, you can slowly embrace the (hopefully) ubiquitous standard that USB-C might be by then and we'll finally reach "one cable to rule them all", "one port to rule them all" that we all spun to each other when trying to rationalize Apple going USB-C on that first MB many years ago.
Not really. I have purchased some USB C cables that negotiated to USB 2 speeds. Some weren’t capable of Thunderbolt.
 
This is why American and Chinese companies have out-innovated Europeans over the last 20 years.
Yeah.

The EU seems to be good at regulating, while being largely ignorant of understanding how innovation works.

That's not to say the American or Chinese approaches are better in every way, because they aren't. But in terms of innovation, yeah the EU has a lot of catching up to do - and it looks like it's losing more ground.
 
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We did it… we won.


Don't slow down until you're at the finish line. I'm gonna save this for the possible eventuality of the next iPhone being fully sealed with no ports.

This conditional qualifier from the EU wording:

"that are rechargeable via a wired cable"

... will make all the difference. If the iPhone doesn't recharge via a wired cable, Apple doesn't need to include any port whatsoever.

And that's ok because there's already a universal charging standard that works on Android and iPhone: Qi. The upcoming Qi standard allows for 50W charging. Fast charging via Lightning only requires 18W – a second gen MagSafe would do double that. So MagSafe 2.0 could offer fast charging and wireless peer-to-peer transfer (AirDrop) with WiFi 6 will enable gigabit transfers.

All of this without any physical ports, no need to carry any cables and available on a growing network of wireless charging ports popping up at airports, hotels, libraries, coffee shops and built into home and office furniture. It's pretty obvious where Apple is going with this. Fortunately, the EU already has its sights on wireless standards. Both Apple and the EU are headed in the same direction.
 
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