EU Moves One Step Closer to Mandating Apple to Switch iPhone, iPad, and AirPods to USB-C

[AndiG]

OMG Apple!!! By refusing to adopt to modern standards and insisting on your d*mn lightning port you achieved the worst, industry can imagine. A law that specifies the port you have to use.

Just add a USB-C port to your devices and the reason for this act is gone. APPLE is the only reason for this new act and Tim is the one to blame. The lightning port was indeed a nice thing, but it is outdated nowadays and EVERYONE else uses USB-C and even Apple itself uses USB-C for laptops and iPads.

Apple would have to move fast to avoid this. WWDC announce every device will use USB-C. iPhone14 USB-C only.

But guess what? Apple can not move fast - it became too big and too greedy to move. Apple turned into the M$ of the 2020s.

 

[3xBoom]

A bunch of bureaucrats with only superficial understanding of tech and/or simply not good enough to get a real job in tech decide what the technology look like. What can go wrong?

 

[azentropy]

Uhm, how? If it has a port, make it USB C. If it doesn’t, don’t. What’s so silly about that?

It is then regulation for regulation's sake which is why some people don't like any regulations to begin with. If it is supposed to be for the benefit of the consumer then how is a completely port-less wireless product better for a consumer than wireless product that has a port they don't need to use...

 

[w5jck]

While it makes great sense to use the latest standard ports, I don't support any governing body having the right to make that a legal requirement. That is several steps too far. Maybe we should demand all the Marshall Plan funds to be refunded at current market value, and call it it a day...

 

[3xBoom]

Apple's response should be to remove all connectors asap...

 

[Jeven Stobs]

Technology works by innovation, design and evolution, as well as market.

Government mandating this is beyond ridiculous overreach.

So what innovation in regards to charging cables do you expect?
Companies can probably bypass this by including an adapter to a product that doesn’t have USB C and still continue “innovating” on their ports… that surely may create more useless adapters, but nothing compared to what we are witnessing right now.

 

[KillerTree]

EU forced Tesla to use CCS, and Teslas a better for it, AND now non-Teslas cause charge at Tesla stations. That will never happen at American Tesla chargers

 

[frostbit3]

So what innovation in regards to charging cables do you expect?
Companies can probably bypass this by including an adapter to a product that doesn’t have USB C and still continue “innovating” on their ports… that surely may create more useless adapters, but nothing compared to what we are witnessing right now.

That's just it, the way this is written they can't. It has to have the physical USB-C connector on the device, not an adapter.

 

[Jeven Stobs]

OMG Apple!!! By refusing to adopt to modern standards and insisting on your d*mn lightning port you achieved the worst, industry can imagine. A law that specifies the port you have to use.

Just add a USB-C port to your devices and the reason for this act is gone. APPLE is the only reason for this new act and Tim is the one to blame. The lightning port was indeed a nice thing, but it is outdated nowadays and EVERYONE else uses USB-C and even Apple itself uses USB-C for laptops and iPads.

Apple would have to move fast to avoid this. WWDC announce every device will use USB-C. iPhone14 USB-C only.

But guess what? Apple can not move fast - it became too big and too greedy to move. Apple turned into the M$ of the 2020s.

Stop blaming Timmy Boy for everything… you all act as if the CEO is in charge or very single thing. He ain’t Elon Musk. And Jobs also didn’t invent the iPhone you know?

 

[AndiG]

Apple's response should be to remove all connectors asap...

Every device big enough to handle USB-C has to implement it. The EU isn’t that stupid (sometimes).

 

[Macative]

The EU engineers will no doubt offer their excellent technical advice to manufacturers on how to make the transition.

Oh, wait......

If the geniuses at the EU had gotten their way on this a few years ago, we'd be mandated into using micro-USB, the worst connector ever made by man.

They are wildly out to lunch on everything.

 

[Macative]

OMG Apple!!! By refusing to adopt to modern standards and insisting on your d*mn lightning port you achieved the worst, industry can imagine. A law that specifies the port you have to use.

Just add a USB-C port to your devices and the reason for this act is gone. APPLE is the only reason for this new act and Tim is the one to blame. The lightning port was indeed a nice thing, but it is outdated nowadays and EVERYONE else uses USB-C and even Apple itself uses USB-C for laptops and iPads.

Apple would have to move fast to avoid this. WWDC announce every device will use USB-C. iPhone14 USB-C only.

But guess what? Apple can not move fast - it became too big and too greedy to move. Apple turned into the M$ of the 2020s.

In what way is USB-C a standard? Last time I checked it is an unmitigated disaster with more than a dozen different cable specs. Lightning is more of a standard at this point.

 

[jonnysods]

I used to be ok with the lightning cable thing, until they removed the charging brick from iPhones, even retroactively removing them on new iPhone 11's. I'm all for this making USB-C standard.

 

[shanson27]

When …2023 ? ?

 

[AndiG]

I look forward watching Apple find whatever loophole gets them out of this

“Exemptions will only apply for devices that are too small to offer a USB-C port,” loopholes closed.

 

[LV426]

I'm not against this in principle - USB C is a good connector. But... I believe Apple should retain the right to only allow authorised connectors to be plugged into the iPhone. There are plenty of dodgy chargers and cables that have a nasty habit of killing people, and I wouldn't want to see the iPhone becoming less safe.

 

[MacLawyer]

I fully support this. Everything else in the house uses USB-C, even my damn iPad. There's zero good reason for Apple not to do this other than being greedy for the accessory dollars. If they won't do the right thing, let the EU force them.

The problem is that the USB Specs change every so often. Suppose USB-D comes out and it's amazing. Do we want to be stuck with the older spec forever?

 

[I7guy]

The problem is that the USB Specs change very so often. Suppose USB-D comes out and it's amazing. Do we want to be stuck with the older spec forever?

Yep, the EU will become a technological desert.

 

[itsthenewdc]

What does this mean for future advancements in tech? If they're forced to use USB-C.. how will the next iteration of tech ever get into the hands of consumers? Because let's be realistic, USB-C will not be the be-all end-all for ports.

 

[bcortens]

Again, I’d call what’s happening here overreach.

The idea that the “common good” can be distilled down to the specific type of data/charging port on a phone makes the term meaningless, IMO.

I’ll agree that maybe the specifics are overreach, but requiring a common standard is a reasonable request.

 

[jimbobb24]

Bad EU. Mandate they use USB5 or mandate they are all fueled by unicorns.

I cannot wait for a future where EU tells people what connectors their technology needs. Wow that will be great. They should also mandate Bluetooth 12 and Wifi 7. Be forward looking!

 

[polyphenol]

There was no government involvement with standardizing of wall sockets.

There certainly was in the UK.

Wiki says:

In 1941 Lord Reith, then the minister of Works and Planning, established committees to investigate problems likely to affect the post-war rebuilding of Britain. One of these, the Electrical Installations Committee, was charged with the study of all aspects of electrical installations in buildings. Amongst its members was Dame Caroline Haslett, President of the Women's Engineering Society, Director of the Electrical Association for Women and an expert on safety in the home.[39] Convened in 1942, the committee reported in 1944, producing one of a set of Post War Building Studies that guided reconstruction.[40]

The plug and socket-outlet system defined in BS 1363 is a result of one of the report's recommendations. Britain had previously used a combination of 2 A, 5 A, and 15 A round pin sockets. In an appendix to the main report (July 1944), the committee proposed that a completely new socket-outlet and fused plug should be adopted as the "all-purpose" domestic standard. The main report listed eight points to consider in deciding the design of the new standard. The first of these was stated as, "To ensure the safety of young children it is of considerable importance that the contacts of the socket-outlet should be protected by shutters or other like means, or by the inherent design of the socket-outlet." Others included flush-fitting, no need for a switch, requirements for terminals, bottom entry for the cable, and contact design.[41] The appendix added five further "points of technical detail" including requirements that plugs could not be inserted incorrectly, should be easy to withdraw, and should include a fuse.[42]

 

[B4U]

What will be next?
Forcing RHD to convert to LHD? ?

 

[jimbobb24]

I’ll agree that maybe the specifics are overreach, but requiring a common standard is a reasonable request.

No it’s not. That’s the way to stifle technology. If someone develops a revolutionary connector they need permission from the EU or every other company to start using it?

 

[LV426]

I see this as government overreach. While I personally would love to see a common connectivity arrangement, but I am against government oversight and not overreach.

Government oversight and regulation can be good. Have you flown lately and lived to tell the tale? You can thank regulation for that. The aviation industry is amongst the most regulated in the world.