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EU Moves One Step Closer to Mandating Apple to Switch iPhone, iPad, and AirPods to USB-C
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Can't stand EU meddling but Apple should have moved to USB-C for iPhone a long, long time ago. Cable admin alone is a royal pain and adds grinding friction to their entire product line. At this point it can only be sheer bloody mindedness and/or penny pinching from licensing Lightning to third parties.
You know, there's a whole tech world outside of Apple that has USB-C as a standard everywhere. And yes, governments SHOULD mandate this type of thing when it's this obvious.
I cannot wait for Lightning to die... I literally won't buy another iPhone until they change it.
BUT - the government mandating it is not a great idea. Imagine if they had mandated micro-USB 10 years ago? We would never have gotten to USB-C. USB-C is not the end-all, be-all connection... there will be something better later. How will we adopt it if it's illegal?
BUT - the government mandating it is not a great idea. Imagine if they had mandated micro-USB 10 years ago? We would never have gotten to USB-C. USB-C is not the end-all, be-all connection... there will be something better later. How will we adopt it if it's illegal?
Apple’s solution will be to provide a simple USB-C-to-Lightning adapter in the box like they did the Lightning-to-3.5mm jack. Apple will NOT be forced to change to USB-C. The EU’s mandate is for compatible charging and an adapter provides that. Stop with the hate.
They should really revisit that regulation and fix it so that all cookies are rejected by default (no popups) and only when you do something that needs a cookie should they be allowed to ask for one.
No. It means that for now if a device has a port and can accommodate a C port, it will have to.
Portless is ok.
A new standart is still years away. This directive is to be in effect asap, if something g developed down the road it will be updated.
Since Apple still includes a charging cable with every device, I don’t see how changing the connector would increase the waste. Rather, using a standard port will allow Apple to also stop including the charging cable.
There was no government involvement with standardizing of wall sockets.
This is terrible legislation.
If Apple wanted to use a serial port to interface/charge iPhones, then let them! The market, design and engineering needs should dictate these things. There is no public safety or health concern with Lightning vs. USB-C.
If Apple wanted to use a serial port to interface/charge iPhones, then let them! The market, design and engineering needs should dictate these things. There is no public safety or health concern with Lightning vs. USB-C.
does it now ? i'll be honest i didnt know
kinda recent though isnt it ? compared to usb-c 'simplementation
While I personally like the idea of having most of my devices use the same port, I’m opposed to using the force of law to require companies to manufacture according to such a mandate.
If this goes into effect, it will make it more difficult to innovate beyond usb-c.
If this goes into effect, it will make it more difficult to innovate beyond usb-c.
absolutely agree. Go back to the first gen iPods. Remember firewire? What if that was mandated. USB-C may seem the way to go today, but tomorrow, wireless charging will be pervasive. Flash forward to 2030. Will the government still require USB-C or will they agree (after a 4 year study costing millions of euros) to magnetic charging and data exchanging. Remember the great Andy Grove quote that technology moves twice as fast as business and regulation moves 5 times slower than business so regulation will lag technology by 10X. This is the folly of these types of regulations. They have a temporary positive effect in that there is a cycle or 2 when the technology is a bit cheaper because of shared adapters, but after that, it actually slows technical progress. Had this been law in 2005, all data products would have a common firewire and USB-A would still be a standard in devices so that no-one is left behind.
Exactly this. They introduced (admittedly well-intentioned) legislation, however they didn't do a good job of specifying how things should be done, they left it open to pretty much interpretation.
In the UK, the ICO is tasked with enforcing these technologies, however they have absolutely no resource at all to do so. So websites will blatantly disregard the legislation and do it their own (non-compliant) way, usually with the use of dark patterns to effectively trick users into tracking.
It's just typical of the EU: they come up with good ideas, but fail abysmally at execution.
You're missing the point. The reasoning behind this regulation is to dissuade the bundling of chargers with new devices since people will already have a compatible charger for their other devices, thus reducing waste.
I am well-aware of all of the reasons why iPhones should have USB-C ports, but in my case I have more Lightning ports than USB-C ports in my household and this change will force me do eventually trash all of my existing accessories.
Apple will remove the port all together before doing that. Wireless charging and data connection.
It's a terrible idea for the government to mandate ports on tech devices, for the reasons stated above.
At the same time, a broader legislative push could incentivize Apple to pre-emptively transition iPhone to USB-C, whose port isn't much bigger vs lightning (this is evident just from holding an iPad Pro next to an iPhone - the size of the ports is nearly identical).
If the size of the ports is almost the same, then why is Apple holding on to the legacy lightning port?
At the same time, a broader legislative push could incentivize Apple to pre-emptively transition iPhone to USB-C, whose port isn't much bigger vs lightning (this is evident just from holding an iPad Pro next to an iPhone - the size of the ports is nearly identical).
If the size of the ports is almost the same, then why is Apple holding on to the legacy lightning port?
I totally get that reference. I can just imagine some panel of EU politicians sitting behind a long table looking cockeyed at Apple representatives when they attempt to explain multiple reasons for keeping the Lightning connector with the same look on their faces that the presidential commission had in this movie.
With that said, I personally think Apple should transition to USB-C voluntarily. The only Lightning devices I have left are my phone and AirPods, and fortunately both support wireless charging so I infrequent deal with Lightning connectors. I keep a USB-C to Lightning dongle attached to my charger cord in my mobile bag for those just-in-case situations.
Potentially, and I don’t know the feasibility of this, Apple could include an option to limit data over USB-C for charging on unknown connectors — similar to how Apple currently offers to limit data on the Lightning connector after an hour of phone sleep to prevent unauthorized access by existing lock-circumventing devices (“FBI mode”).
Ah yes, I'm sure they are. The Qi standard seems to be pretty well adopted, hopefully they don't make any dumb decisions.
So never change anything because some idiots who don't understand anything might get upset? No thanks. Let those people get pissy for 5 minutes. It's been 10 damn years of the Lightning connector. They can buy a couple new $2 cables off Amazon and deal with it.
Apple gives you a USB-C to Lightning cable in the box. You can use the same brick to charge your laptop, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch.