This may be a long shot, but have you tried simply cleaning out the port with a toothpick? I was experiencing the same wobbly looseness with my iPhone lightning port and thought it was just age. Then with a simple cleaning a surprising amount of lint came out and it's like new again!
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EU Lawmakers Vote Overwhelmingly in Favor of Common Charging Standard, Despite Apple's Protestations [Updated]
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This may be a long shot, but have you tried simply cleaning out the port with a toothpick? I was experiencing the same wobbly looseness with my iPhone lightning port and thought it was just age. Then with a simple cleaning a surprising amount of lint came out and it's like new again!
No, what it means is that for the foreseeable future we'll have a charging CONNECTOR no better than USB-C. Nothing should prevent that connector from transferring increasing amounts of power.
Well there is one unified WiFi standard. So you are saying we‘ll never get a wireless solution better than WiFi 6? Shoot!
If it’s so much better, why drop it from the iPad Pro? iPad Pro, MacBook Pro and now iPhone Pro, yet they don’t all use the same charging cable. Just stupid.
I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. While I would love for the iPhone to move to USB-C I am not a fan of governments forcing manufacturers to make this move. It could open the flood gates to other, less helpful, tech regulation.
I still have fears about the US government putting regulation on how much encryption we as consumers are allowed to have.
I still have fears about the US government putting regulation on how much encryption we as consumers are allowed to have.
Every single device purchased comes with a charging cable, whether USB-C or Lightning - how exactly is this proposal going to reduce waste? Because you can tell Samsung I already have a USB-C cable so don’t put one in the box of the new device I’m purchasing? And how does this empower consumer choices, when you’re basically deciding what consumers must use?
No piece of legislation can ever be improved upon over time, ever. Once laws are passed, that’s how it has to be for all time. Because laws never ever ever change ever.
God bless Lightning, may we have proprietary garbage forced upon us all for ever and amen.
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You'll still have a port for servicing unresponsive units. Even the iWatch has a diagnostics port.
As for wireless charging itself, that is a misnomer. The wireless charger itself requires a wire. You think these legislators won't seek to standardize the wireless chargers too?
Standardization doesn't necessarily stifle innovation. There are all sorts of standards defining digital products and the internet. The standards aren't static. They are ever evolving. Even Apple, in a related article, wants to standardize SMS two-factor authorization.
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Can some of the Lightning Defenders address the following points?
1) Lightning transfer speed is limited to USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/s or about 40 MB/s in real life). It's just a pleasure to transfer files from or to an iDevice with 256 or more GB storage. The internal NAND storage is an NVMe SSD since around 2015 and offers >1000 MB/s reads and >400 MB/s writes.
2) Lightning uses (wired) AirPlay to output video since there arent enough pins to carry an HDMI or DP signal. Because of this you get compression artefacts that are visible (at least to me)
3) If USB-C is such a bad connector then why did Apple put it into the 2018 iPad Pros instead of keeping the great Lightning connector?
4) USB-C is currently specified to up to 20 Gb/s or about 2 GB/s transfer speeds (without going Thunderbolt). If iDevices some time within the next ten years exceed these speeds and are throttled by USB-C I'd be quite happy to live with that "compromise".
5) Currently USB-C supports up to DP 1.4 (UHD@120 Hz@10 bpc color and HDR)
6) Currently USB-C can supply up to 100 Watts of power.
7) The only thing critical about USB-C (based on my experience since 2ß15) is that the plugs and sockets are more sensitive to manufacturing tolerances (how tight or loose a plugged-in connector fits).
This is why I'm having a hard time understanding how this legislature is "limiting" innovation if Apple themselves are limiting current iDevices' performance just fine with Lightning...
1) Lightning transfer speed is limited to USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/s or about 40 MB/s in real life). It's just a pleasure to transfer files from or to an iDevice with 256 or more GB storage. The internal NAND storage is an NVMe SSD since around 2015 and offers >1000 MB/s reads and >400 MB/s writes.
2) Lightning uses (wired) AirPlay to output video since there arent enough pins to carry an HDMI or DP signal. Because of this you get compression artefacts that are visible (at least to me)
3) If USB-C is such a bad connector then why did Apple put it into the 2018 iPad Pros instead of keeping the great Lightning connector?
4) USB-C is currently specified to up to 20 Gb/s or about 2 GB/s transfer speeds (without going Thunderbolt). If iDevices some time within the next ten years exceed these speeds and are throttled by USB-C I'd be quite happy to live with that "compromise".
5) Currently USB-C supports up to DP 1.4 (UHD@120 Hz@10 bpc color and HDR)
6) Currently USB-C can supply up to 100 Watts of power.
7) The only thing critical about USB-C (based on my experience since 2ß15) is that the plugs and sockets are more sensitive to manufacturing tolerances (how tight or loose a plugged-in connector fits).
This is why I'm having a hard time understanding how this legislature is "limiting" innovation if Apple themselves are limiting current iDevices' performance just fine with Lightning...
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Bad decision. Has nothing to do with what current options are or what you like - it stifles development of anything better. Wireless charging is getting there and this hurts that...
Imagine the EU choosing Apple's Lightning connector as the new standard. Would every Android phone and Laptop then be required to use a Lightning connector for 24 W charging power and USB 2.0 speeds?
Generate exorbanant amounts of cash for Apple via the MFi program.
I’m not disagreeing with you. I actually agree with your premise. But you can’t make blanket statements like politicians don’t understand technology when you have no way to validate that. Many people from different backgrounds are very Knowledgeable, even if they‘re not MR members. 😉
Maybe tech companies should stay out of politics, especially when they don’t understand it? see what I did there? 😄
I wish people would stop using that line. Apple Watch and iPhone are NOT even in the same category and they are used differently. There are many fewer reasons to have a cable connection to the Watch than to the iPhone.
Actually, its more confusing that they went USB-C only on MBP in late 2016 to "push" the port as the only port you need, but now they are fighting it?!
I also like to get a laugh at people who were convinced that Apple made it that way so they will be "future" proof. 3 years has passed, time to upgrade your laptop is nearing, and still USB-A more ubiquitous than USB-C. Not even Apple switched over to USB-C🤣
This looks like it’s actually about the charger, not the phone port. As long as the chargers are USB-C, it’s fine. Apple is already in compliance with this standard with the iPhone 11 Pro, which includes a USB-C charger and USB-C to lightning cable. They’ve supported USB-C PD chargers since the iPhone 8, when they made USB-C to lightning cables available for purchase.
The fact that Micro-USB was even considered as the universal port, shows that they don’t know what they’re talking about 🤦♂️
I’ve not read through to see exactly what the EU is proposing, but imagine if there wasn’t a USB-C option today, and what they were proposing was adoption of micro-USB as the standard. Thinking back, wasn’t that something the EU proposed previously? I want to say this seems like something that has come up previously, perhaps back when Apple made the shift from the 30pin connector to Lightning?
Or maybe think what it would be like to have to carry around the huge power bricks that many PC makers use with their laptops, vs Apple’s smaller and sleeker looking power pucks. It’s these types of product decisions that has been a hallmark of Apple’s products going back to the founding of the company. Other companies don’t seem to sweat the same details that Apple does and my guess is decisions on things like power plugs will be made not based upon good design decisions.
People complain about change no matter whether the change is beneficial to them personally or not, and for the EU or any government to regulate what a charging plug standard is, is ridiculous. I agree with Apple that it will stifle the development of new and better technologies.
Or maybe think what it would be like to have to carry around the huge power bricks that many PC makers use with their laptops, vs Apple’s smaller and sleeker looking power pucks. It’s these types of product decisions that has been a hallmark of Apple’s products going back to the founding of the company. Other companies don’t seem to sweat the same details that Apple does and my guess is decisions on things like power plugs will be made not based upon good design decisions.
People complain about change no matter whether the change is beneficial to them personally or not, and for the EU or any government to regulate what a charging plug standard is, is ridiculous. I agree with Apple that it will stifle the development of new and better technologies.
Absolute nonsense, Apple includes a cable in the box when you buy the phone. If anything Apple should just include a lightning to usb-c adapter to get around this. Means little to nothing anyway, they'll drop the port in the coming year.. just another political hit job to gain points with someone else who's getting money elsewhere.
I don’t believe you understand how appliance power works. While I agree with your concept of simplifying appliance connectivity this can be done today without any laws to be passed.
Every manufacturer should build the power adapter inside the product similar to the iMac, Mac Mini, etc. Having a power brick may reduce the product weight but adds this unsightly look to the overall product package.
Simple solution for all small appliance manufacturers is to just build the PSU into the product.