EU Proposes to Force Apple to Switch iPhone, iPad, and AirPods From Lightning to USB-C

[profcutter]

The market decided to maintain a segmentation of interfaces. Much like the USB/Firewire debate. Much like the slow adoption of thunderbolt. The EU is stepping in because the market failed. It’s not a life or death issue, to be fair, Apple could have continued down the path of proprietary cables indefinitely, and it would be hard to identify how anyone died from that practice. That said, I’ve got no problem with the EU mandating some regulation on the industry.

 

[jimbobb24]

The amount of power used to charge your phone is negligible

Yes but some people think about collective impacts and costs.

 

[minimo3]

If the motivation is standardization then why is it limited to such a small subset of electronics? What about kettles, mixers, lamps, coffee makers, fans, TVs, audio equipment, irons, electric shavers, etc.

oh probably because European companies make these so we wouldn’t want to burden them with these pesky regulations.

 

[Peperino]

Name one advantage for the market and user of Lightning over USBC. I mean, I don’t want to change my cables, but even Apple has the 2 connectors in its devices, time to homologate to a more advanced solution. Apple has enough trillions of dollars, no need to be greedy with the cables.

Tim Cook is as greedy as it gets. They are still delivering in 2021 computers with 8gb RAM and 256 SSD which is pathetic to milk users with 3x market-overpriced RAM and SSD upgrades.

He tried to keep selling a badly designed and faulty Macbook Keyboard for over 4 years when it should have been recalled.

What it is more pathetic, that they are selling you the Pro Max as a video camera, but it will take forever to download ProRes videos through a 10 year old lighting cable. It is like having the top of the line Tesla, but having a charging cable that will take 2 days to charge...

 

[Ethosik]

Uh?
What do you think it is best? Allow a corporate to continue polluting the environment with more cables and adapters that work ONLY with their products or require such corporate (and any other) to use a standard that works for everything and can do absolutely everything that those custom cables and adapters?

You should actually thank the EU for this. Yet another directive that will improve the lives of EU citizens, the economy (the money spent on absurd cables and adapters can be better used to consume other more useful products) and the recycling and processing of waste in the EU.
And for free, the rest of the planet will probably get the same because this is one of those directives that will likely apply globally in practice, just like GDPR.



I think you are getting it wrong.

The EU is legislating for the EU consumers, to protect them and to care for them.
If there was no legislation, we would be ruled by corporate and stock market because the goals of companies is to make as much money as possible with the lowest possible cost. Legislation is there to put limits that the citizens have demanded.

Just because something has a USB-C port doesn’t mean it will support every single device that has USB-C. I have some items that use USB -C that my iPad Pro can’t recognize even. The OS needs to understand it too.

So I still see the lightning port useful in that approved actual items that work with the phone can connect to it.

 

[profcutter]

If the motivation is standardization then why is it limited to such a small subset of electronics? What about kettles, mixers, lamps, coffee makers, fans, TVs, audio equipment, irons, electric shavers, etc.

oh probably because European companies make these so we wouldn’t want to burden them with these pesky regulations.

I would not be at all surprised. Same with the kid gloves treatment that VW got. And the same kinds of easy treatment for US auto mfgs in the US. On the other hand, there are standards for the items you’re describing. The standard connector for AC Mains. Not every company uses them, but the standard exists. Why that’s not regulated? Unclear. That would certainly make apple’s connector for the M1 IMac difficult.

 

[jimbobb24]

The market decided to maintain a segmentation of interfaces. Much like the USB/Firewire debate. Much like the slow adoption of thunderbolt. The EU is stepping in because the market failed. It’s not a life or death issue, to be fair, Apple could have continued down the path of proprietary cables indefinitely, and it would be hard to identify how anyone died from that practice. That said, I’ve got no problem with the EU mandating some regulation on the industry.

On the internet “the market failed” means didn’t produce the outcome I like. The market optimizes a trillion different outcomes simultaneously- pointing at one measure and thinking it is failure is incredibly narrow because no one knows about the trillion other outcomes which were better optimized because of the outcome you don’t like.

 

[ericwn]

Do you think all the consumers with 10 years of accumulated lightning accessories think that?

There was a clear benefit in moving from the 30pin to Lightning. I don’t see that benefit here, just hassle and the need to replace a bunch of stuff I already have with something bigger that does the same thing about as well.

Accepting proprietary ports is what got us into this two charging standards situation already. There will be waste either way, but simplifying to one standard will be the lesser impact in the long run in my opinion.

 

[CthuluLemon]

Translation of Apple's response: No, if you do that, we won't be able to charge MFi annual fees or benefit from our patents. That's how Tim Cook's Apple makes its money, don't you know!

 

[Analog Kid]

In the interim it will likely increase waste and costs. That's short-term thinking though. In the long-term it's quite advantageous on both of those counts to be able to charge all of your electronic devices with potentially a single cable/brick. In the future, people switching between Android and iOS will no longer have to buy new charging cables or other accessory devices. And the only reason micro USB is around is because some phone manufacturers are cheap bastards. It should've disappeared from most new devices several years ago.

Actually, what you’re presenting is short term thinking. You‘re assuming that USB-C is the end of the technology roadmap. It certainly is not. It’s only 2 years younger than Lightning with the same limitations of foresight that every new technology must face.

Look at the history of USB— they aren’t one for keeping a connector definition for long.

When micro-USB-C, or whatever they’ll call it, comes along, should the EU force everyone to throw their USB-C stuff away to move to the new standard, or should they force manufacturers to hold back their technology to stay compatible with the older USB-C?

And having a single cable/brick for all your electronic devices is just as much a pipe dream. USB-C is not monolithic. Do I really want to carry a MacBook Pro brick and 100W cable to charge my AirPods? USB-C uses different cable and charger bricks for different purposes. Not every device is compatible with every brick even if they have the same port on them.

And we’re mostly there anyway— lightning cables have USB ports on the brick end, so the brick isn’t really part of the discussion here.

 

[mikethemartian]

I actually liked the 30 pin more. The lightning cables I’ve owned haven’t been as durable.

 

[Motionblurrr]

Imagine if this passed in 2011 and Apple was forced to use Micro USB 🤢🤮

 

[Analog Kid]

Accepting proprietary ports is what got us into this two charging standards situation already. There will be waste either way, but simplifying to one standard will be the lesser impact in the long run in my opinion.

I’ve had one proprietary port, designed for purpose, on my Apple devices for a decade. I literally have a box of obsoleted “standard” USB cables from that same period.

Forcing this change will cause a surge in waste now, and then it will go right back to trend as people continue to choose devices with new standards, bricks that support new standards or are smaller for the existing standards, etc. When I buy a new charging component for my devices it’s never because the previous one doesn’t work (I can charge an iPhone 13 with the original 5W block), it’s because of some convenience feature.

 

[PlayUltimate]

I would not be surprised if Apple had wanted to go to USBC when the standard was set. . . BUT, when Apple introduced the lightning cable after 9 years of using the 30-pin connector, there was many complaints. And for Apple to then move to USB-C after 3 years (2012 - 2015) would have been an even bigger problem. After all, MacBooks had USBC included starting in 2015.

 

[hagjohn]

I wouldn’t mind a USB-C iPhone, but I fear this just pushes Apple towards a portless iPhone instead.

portless should give us better water resistance, which would be nice.

 

[kenaustus]

Personally I feel that the USB-C is crap for a lot of users. At 77 I'm buying replacements 2 at a time, funds coming out of Social Security.

Biggest problem? They get bent pretty easily if you are prone to "accidents": tripping over cords, etc. My late Scottish Mother-In-Law would call them Cheap Johns and, of course, I agree with her. Too bad that Apple didn't offer their original MagSafe recharging design for a 1/10th of 1¢ royalty for that design.

 

[Iconoclysm]

Exactly - they’re just pushing the punchline out a few more years to keep the cash flowing.

They make virtually nothing off of the devices using lightning vs. USB C. I have no idea why you've taken this theory and run with it.

 

[sdf]

I don't see a problem. Ship European iPhones with USB-C support and make the compromises you have to make public-facing. Meanwhile, continue to ship Lightning ports elsewhere.

 

[Iconoclysm]

Fine with me. Looking at the case for the new 13 it’s clear the thing would be Chonky enough to accommodate a C plug. I’m sure this would tick off Apple as it would be giving up the last vestiges of their MFi licensing program in the form of Lightning plugs, which is the real reason they’ve kept the port around. Oh, you thought it was because Apple cared about compatibility? You poor, gentle soul.
Im sure Apple thought it could replace that cash cow with MagSafe devices, but one quick search for fully compatible chargers and mounts from 3rd party manufacturers shows how popular that has been. Spoiler: not very.

If that were the case, they'd have kept the iPads using Lightning as well and moved them all together. MFi is nowhere near a cash cow for Apple, it's not even a blip in their earnings. The real reason for this stems back to the removal of the dock connector - it pissed people off.

 

[Iconoclysm]

I don't see a problem. Ship European iPhones with USB-C support and make the compromises you have to make public-facing. Meanwhile, continue to ship Lightning ports elsewhere.

That just won't work out very well fragmenting the market that way. They will likely just move to USB C and blame the EU.

 

[ericwn]

They make virtually nothing off of the devices using lightning vs. USB C. I have no idea why you've taken this theory and run with it.

They knew well ahead of time that USB-C was coming and decided to release a proprietary port instead anyway. If there wasn’t money and ecosystem lock-in involved why would they not have swapped to a consumer friendly stance years ago on their cash cow iPhone?
Now we as consumers have multiple charging standards delivered from Apple and have to pack both. That’s certainly not ease of use or environmental concerns.

 

[WiseAJ]

EU should just forward think and require the use of USB-D

 

[bobcomer]

Nothing reduces waste and cost while increasing convenience quite like suddenly obsoleting 71 percent of people's stuff...

71%????

The only thing I have that's lightning right now is my iPhone 11, the rest are either USB-c, and there's a lot of them, or a stray Micro USB or two. (like my fan!).

 

[DaveP]

They knew well ahead of time that USB-C was coming and decided to release a proprietary port instead anyway. If there wasn’t money and ecosystem lock-in involved why would they not have swapped to a consumer friendly stance years ago on their cash cow iPhone?
Now we as consumers have multiple charging standards delivered from Apple and have to pack both. That’s certainly not ease of use or environmental concerns.

So Apple should have waited for the size and other improvements of a new connector and continued using the 30-pin port a couple more years? That sounds like a poor decision both for Apple and consumers.

Ecosystem lock-in is real, but rarely due to charging/connector cables. 3rd party cabled accessories were very popular a decade ago, but are not so common now as most are wireless.

 

[sclawis300]

Uh?
What do you think it is best? Allow a corporate to continue polluting the environment with more cables and adapters that work ONLY with their products or require such corporate (and any other) to use a standard that works for everything and can do absolutely everything that those custom cables and adapters?

You should actually thank the EU for this. Yet another directive that will improve the lives of EU citizens, the economy (the money spent on absurd cables and adapters can be better used to consume other more useful products) and the recycling and processing of waste in the EU.
And for free, the rest of the planet will probably get the same because this is one of those directives that will likely apply globally in practice, just like GDPR.



I think you are getting it wrong.

The EU is legislating for the EU consumers, to protect them and to care for them.
If there was no legislation, we would be ruled by corporate and stock market because the goals of companies is to make as much money as possible with the lowest possible cost. Legislation is there to put limits that the citizens have demanded.

Every phone is still coming with a cable. What is the difference if it is lightning or usbc?