EU Law That Could Force the iPhone to Switch to USB-C to Be Presented Next Month

[subi257]

I'd love a USB-C iPhone. I'm not thrilled about Apple being forced into it but whatever. Legislating requirements can be good or bad and I think getting rid of a connector because it's only 20% of the market is a poor reason.

Make apple ship an adapter like last time.

Don't they still do? I guess I will find out when I replace my 11 Pro with a 13 Pro.

 

[Onexy]

Apple desperately needs enforcement for their lies about being about the environment.

 

[kaycrystal626]

Finally, something I agree with EU.

 

[steevn]

Are people really still giving birth to babies that use micro-USB? It's 2021 for goodness' sake!

I could accept the micro usb, it was the being born with dial up internet where I had to draw the line.

 

[barkomatic]

This would be awesome. The best and most expensive iPad is equipped with USB-C. Not a single USB-C cable I own broke - just don‘t ask me how many Lightning cables broke!

So why Apple wants to stick with Ligthning? It is a proprietary technology and it is under the control of Apple. If you want to do something with Ligthning you have to be a memeber of APPLEs MFI program.

Just imagine what happens if you just could connect with an iPhone. All the users would cheers and Tim Cook would cry.

It might be for now, but the EU is suggesting 5 different options for a "common charger" as well as options for ports on devices. Do you really think the EU is going to update this often to keep up with new innovations?

Eventually, EU users will be on the equivalent of a Victrola in regard to the smartphone tech they'll be allowed to have.

 

[Techwatcher]

Good make them switch to USB-C. Lightning Cable makes zero sense in 2021. Either that or go portless.

 

[norbinhouston]

Better late than never. Shame that Apple didn't work together with the industry from the very beginning on a unified standard. Imagine how much nicer the situation would be today, ALL cables compatible, reversible, both ends the same.

They did, they were on the usbc committe.

 

[Stella]

A common connector would be great. Propriety connectors are mostly a thing of the past - we have common connections for Keyboard, Mice, video cards, cameras, and mostly phones and tablets. The hold out is Apple... with it's lightning connector.

 

[norbinhouston]

Btw, lightning is still a usb connector. The other end plugs into any usb a or c port.

 

[jimothyGator]

Apple can talk the talk, but they never walk the walk. At the very core of their "business model" is incompatiblity with the world at large. Just like the rest of the US with its miles, ounces and gallons.

It turns out, gallons are compatible with liters. Just to test this out, I filled my 33 gallon tank with with 125 liters of gasoline, and it worked just fine.

 

[5105973]

Same here and it's a pain in the arse, especially when travelling.

When I travel, I’ve simply resigned myself to unplugging the power strip with all of my various chargers still plugged into it and stuffing the whole mess into my travel bag. It takes a few seconds compared to the days I painstakingly unplugged and carefully wound up each adapter only to have to plug everything back in at my destination, where there often aren’t enough outlets and I’d wished for my power strip anyway.

 

[Jmausmuc]

The state will now do your planning for you.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I was a Motorola user before iPhone. It was awful back then. I had 4 Moto phones before my first iPhone. Each Moto phone had it's own type of charging port. The first 3 were proprietary. My last one (Moto SLDR) had a mini-USB, so at least that was a standard.

I have had 3 iPhones personally, and about a dozen or so within the family. All Lightning.

Another thought - pocket lint. Many people put their phones in their pockets or in a bag. The lightning port on iPhones can get pretty gunked up with lint. It's easy to clean out ... I personally use the sticky end of a post-it note and I've seen folks use a toothpick or something like that. How does one clean lint out of a USB-C port with the "flappy" piece in the way? Would using slime be a good idea. I'm pretty sure a toothpick would be a bad idea.

I went through Motorola, LG, and Samsung in the era of flip-phones. All three had different wall chargers. Plus I needed three different car chargers too!

And inevitably you'd be somewhere and need a charger but everyone uses other brands. It was a mess.

All those old chargers had the cord attached. Thankfully we got to the place where the cord was detachable. Thanks USB!

Now it's just a matter of which ends are on the cords.

I also got bit by the pocket-lint bug. I carried an iPhone 6S Plus until my iPhone 12 Pro Max.

For a couple years the Lightning cable was unreliable in my iPhone 6S Plus. I'd jam it in there and it would barely stay attached. And if I just looked at it funny... it would stop charging.

It was pocket lint! I did the toothpick trick and pulled out half a pair of jeans. I'm now more cognizant of keeping my ports clean.

And yes... it's much easier to clean a Lightning port rather than a USB-C port. That little flap inside seems like a liability.

 

[dz5b609]

So how would this work with the rumors that Apple wants to skip usb-c and just remove the port alltogether for wireless/magsafe.

 

[swm]

How is it better?

if it snaps, it's always the cable, not the socket. my kids killed at least 10 cables over the years, but the socket on every single device they used is intact. USB-C sockets are fragile as f..., if the central lip snaps, you can kiss your device goodbye. also, size matters. like it or not, the lightning socket is thinner and yet more robust than USB-C.

 

[cmichaelb]

I agree with Victoria Nuland.

USB is a mess. The ports always end up wonky. Lightning on the other hand has been fantastic and more robust.

• As for all the complaints about traveling with an extra cable, really?
• I have extra cables packed in my bag/suitcase all the time, never have to worry about it.
• Magsafe? Not for data, that would suck.
• Bad lightning cable? What the hell do you people do to your cables?

 

[jimothyGator]

Think of wall outlets as just one simple but ultra relatable example; wouldn’t you find it annoying if you went next door and it used completely different outlets?

Interesting example, because the standards US plug is the result not of regulation, but of private industry standards. Even the National Electric Code is not regulation at the federal level. It, again, is a private industry standard, though all 50 states individually adopted it.

I think if everyone stepped away from all the politicizing everything in America(and everywhere) right now even those who truly want small government would want government to regulate these type of things.

In other words: Why won't people stop politicizing things and just adopt my political view?!?

 

[gammamonk]

We still have two 30-pin apple devices in service and many brand new devices (BT head phones, action cams) still use Micro USB, so yay 4 cables. While I think lightning is physically superior, USB-C is completely fine and I'm all for unifying this rat's nest.

 

[kyykesko]

Their business model is having unique technology with capabilities that allow them to better compete and win and keep customers. If there are billions of users who like their lightning cables what’s the Problem I hate having usb-c because I can’t use my lightning headphones on my New iPad now.

You should rather hate your proprietary lightning headphones you can only use with one device. I'd never buy one of those.

 

[kyykesko]

What’s “going on” in Europe?

They asked for this level of trade regulation.

Actually, we asked for getting rid of crappy properietary adapters for every single damned device. We prefer it easy and simple. USB-C is just that. iPads already have moved on to this century, only the iPhone is lagging behind with no good excuses. We rather see end users happy than big corporations doing whatever they wish at the expense of others.

I love being able to charge my Macbook Pro, my Chromebook, my drone, my DSLR camera, my android tablet, my headphones, my VR goggles and several other things with just a single power brick and cable. I don't need to have an extra room in my house for a boatload of different chargers and adapters. And yet I still need a separate charger for my iPhone. Can't wait to get rid of that.

(And no, changing to an Android phone is not an option. My work revolves around apps and infra I can only use on iPhone so keep your snide remarks.)

 

[Lwii2boo]

Their business model is having unique technology with capabilities that allow them to better compete and win and keep customers. If there are billions of users who like their lightning cables what’s the Problem I hate having usb-c because I can’t use my lightning headphones on my New iPad now.

People like iPhone mainly because of hardware quality, software support, iOS optimization, or just used to the ecosystem.
Lightning is an inferior version of USB-C in all aspects, it is just a proprietary format that allow Apple to charge royalties to third-party firms like Anker, Belkin, Syncwire, ESR etc etc while selling their own accessories meaning all accessories licensed with lightning involved give $ to Apple whatever the brand is.
Btw MagSafe is the exact same business model of proprietary format to charge royalties once again while dodging the EU law once the lightning port will be removed.

 

[IIGS User]

So here’s a fact for you, USB C cable ends are female, which Lightning they are male.
The male tab with the connections of USBC are inside the port on the laptop and phone, if someone has their hand or foot on the cable plug close to the port of the laptop or phone, the tab inside the port will break and will be a costly repair or replacement, the cable will likely survive.

Under the same situation with a Lightning cable, the tab will break off the end of the cable but the internal port on device will survive...

Finally, USB forum has a long and consistent history of designing poorly engineered connectors, its taken them over 20 years to reach USB C and yet still the scenario above again exposes their ineptitude.

Apple‘s Lightening connector probably should have become the standard, USB IF probably copied the concept but simply reversed the mating…

Good points I hadn't thought of. Thanks.

 

[jlc1978]

this would be great overall, though with flexibility for a new standard to be allowed as things progress. All in favor of standardized plug in systems - reduces e-waste and opens up competition for companies to make compatible cords.

Apple could still mke cables with specialized electronics or pinou use that would make a stock USB C cable unusable.

I think if everyone stepped away from all the politicizing everything in America(and everywhere) right now even those who truly want small government would want government to regulate these type of things.

Think of wall outlets as just one simple but ultra relatable example; wouldn’t you find it annoying if you went next door and it used completely different outlets?

It’s also really annoying that my iPad and MacBook use USB C but not iPhone, and I want that to change.

Even if wanting limited government, these are the things that make sense for government creating/enforcing standards that benefit everyone as a whole.

I agree with the EU on this. It is not just mobile phones but camera's and camcorders and other video devices, handheld games consoles, watches, handheld media players, the list goes on, and they have one thing in common, their own AC adapter. There is no need for this, the electronic manufacturing industry should have come up with a common standard themselves but they refused to because it meant money to them,

I've worked on standards committees. The problem with coming up with a standard is to get everyone to agree you wind up with basically a box with a plug on both ends; everything else is up in the air.

removing an AC adapter means the overall cost of the device has to be reduced and manufactureres of electronic devices were not about to do this so in steps the EU to force them to come up with a standard.

However, once they do that manufacturers now are limited to what it can do and given the pace of changes may be stuck for years with an outmoded one; or find creative ways around the law.

Consumers do not need a plethora of AC adapters for every device they purchase, they just need one AC adapter that will support ALL the devices. All the manufacturer of the device has to do is provide a charging cable.

Too late for iphone 13 and iphone 14 apple will go port-less and avoid the EU again

That may actually violate the law because the charger will not fit other phones...

 

[britboyj]

Please. Now that the iPad is USB-C, having lightning for ONE DEVICE is annoying. Everything else is either USB-C or Qi anyway, and most accessories people use these days are Bluetooth or AirPlay anyway.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

I wouldn't mind Apple going all USB-C, but NOT because they were mandated by a Government.

Apple already supplies a USB-C port...at the other end of the lightning cable, where it counts.