These proposals would have a chilling effect on product innovation. I urge all European citizens to make your voices heard to stop this madness. If you love Apple, it is your civic duty to make a contribution to protect the company we all love.
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EU Proposes to Force Apple to Switch iPhone, iPad, and AirPods From Lightning to USB-C
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Well, more or less as lighting is unable to reach usb-c data transfer speed.
so usb-c in iphones would be awesome in order to transfer large data to computer as videos or backups.
not to talk the huge compatibility with peripherals it could bring
I would think the use cases for connecting anything wired to an iPhone is rapidly becoming niche. I bet most people only use it for rapid charging, so in the end it doesn’t really matter. I would prefer them to switch, because I now need two chargers by my bed because my iPad is USB-C. I do not think it should be through legislation though, as others have mentioned, what if we had been forced to use micro USB?
If we truly believe there will never be improvements over USB-C, fine. But who believes that? As the minijack shows, it can be fine to have a defacto standard for decades, but it makes it difficult to move forward.
Well, I don’t “love” Apple at all, but my confidence in the EU dealing with legislating complex technology takes a knock every time I have to fight my way through cookie-related front pages before I can actually reach the stuff I want to read.
The great thing about the lightning connector is that they put the delicate part on the end that’s cheaper to replace.
I'm curious as to why lots of Apple users are so resistant to USB-C? I use Macs exclusively - all of which use USB-C ports - but I use Samsung phones, which are also USB-C. USB-C seems... fine? The advantage lightning had was that you didn't need to worry about orientation of the plug. Which is the same as USB-C.
Or is there some other advantage to lightning over USB-C that I'm missing?
Or is there some other advantage to lightning over USB-C that I'm missing?
Lightning is the worst connector I have used. You never know if your cable can survival on the next day.
agreed. I bought at least 30 lightning cables since iPhone5 and honestly to say, I have lost trust on these cables at all even it declares MFI. Sometimes some can only charge in one direction, sometimes some quickly switch between charging and not-charging. You never know if a lightning cable can work correctly!
wake up bro. Android phones almost all switched to USB-C. And they are sharing better charging experience and interconnect. iPhone is slowly becoming a joke on charging experience.
No, because “public interest” is way too broad. The gov’t uses that as an excuse all the friggin time to interfere where they shouldn’t.
Emission standards came about once we “discovered” pollution and its impact on people’s health, so that is directly tied to public safety.
Why do we even need efficiency ratings of appliances? They only serve to increase the cost of doing business which gets passed on to the consumer... and increase taxes to support yet another unnecessary gov’t body.
Allocating finite resources is not the same thing as designing a product. The gov‘t can sell a portion of a national forest for logging but they’re not mandating what can be done with the lumber.
The origins of the Forestry Commission in the UK were very much involved with end use. The First World War (Great War) exposed issues with supply of timber required for the direct war effort and supporting industries (e.g. pit props). Massive numbers of trees had been felled and there was concern that we would not be able to fight another major war.
The end use dictated lots of aspects such as the selection of species, the expected age/size of trees at felling, etc.
Efficiency rating of appliances seems to me a perfectly unobjectionable process. Allows the consumer to see the expected usage by the appliance of energy, water, etc. Why should companies be allowed to hide this information?
Whether that should be done with the intent of banning low efficiency appliances is another matter. But there are situations in which the purchaser doesn't care - e.g.a really bad landlord. Typically tenants of such landlords are already at the bottom of the pile so the last people who would want extremely inefficient refrigerators and washing machines. Few people who have the information available and the freedom to choose across the market would positively choose a low efficiency appliance.
Remember when every phone maker used their own proprietary charging adapter?
Hell, Nokia managed to have TWO different types of adapters, because f*** you.
Those were the days!
Apple just wants to be like Nokia of old - sell more chargers and dongles.
And to think that EU bureaucrats don't want to keep it that way. Shame on them!
Hell, Nokia managed to have TWO different types of adapters, because f*** you.
Those were the days!
Apple just wants to be like Nokia of old - sell more chargers and dongles.
And to think that EU bureaucrats don't want to keep it that way. Shame on them!
Only on websites that want to spy on you or collect data. And sooner than later this will just be a browser wide preference. That you can now always opt out of being spied on by advertisers is a bloody good win for everyone.
I know. Imagine if they put it on the iPads or MacBooks.....oh. Hang on.....
You're funny. Enjoy your little blue passport and £350m per week for the NHS, and a useless PM that quotes from "Kermit the Frog".
Public safety
There are ranges and you pay more for more efficient.
Public safety.
Cellular radio frequency are not product design.
You do realise lightning only manages 480Mbps as it's based on USB2 standards, and cannot support high wattage charging because it's simply not built that way.
Do you also realise their flagship iPads and MacBooks have all adopted USB-C, but why not iPhones? Simple. Licensing fees from their MFi program. This effectively eliminates this revenue source, but consumers are still bottlenecked with outdated standards from their lightning connectors.
But if you want to stick with lightning, you go for it. USB-C will not stifle innovation. Corporate greed and the naivety of others will....
Go EU!
Once again; Do you realise the limitations of lightning?
- 480Mbps limit vs 10Gbps+ on USB-C (TB 4 provides 40Gbps and TB5, 80Gbps....all on the existing USB-C plug.....I know; how crummy is that! Total lack of innovation!)
- $20 for a lightning lead (MFi adds about $4 per cable that goes to Apple for licensing), vs about $10 for a USB-C cable
- Lightning supports 2.4A vs up to 5A on USB-C
- USB-C standards are supported across all modern devices. Even my BMW from 2017 has USB-C ports for power in the back.
OPEN YOUR EYES!!!
Dude, seriously? Are you calling lightning innovation? A slow, expensive proprietary product based on USB2 technology?
No. Just naivety and corporate capitalist greed.
All these EU liberal commies just want to destroy the world you see!
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The lightning connector is one solid piece. The USBC connector is hollow and needs a very tiny, very delicate piece from the port to slide into the center of it. I could see how to an individual that has used neither they may seem the same
Lightning I can plug into my phone and swing the phone around by the cable, it doesn't budge. All USBC ports in my nearly $4k MacBook Pro are so loose after 3 years that they unplug effortlessly, do not click at all, and wiggle around in the port even when connected. Other USBC devices I have are better, but still click in less snuggly and wiggle around in the port. Data speeds are great but it seems to me an embarassingly bad connector
Unregulated Lightning cable pose a potential for fire hazard and wiretapping.
Hence, Public Safety.
it was an innovation comparing to microusb. Apple just ruined its reputation with low-quality cables and "Unsupported Accessory" popup.
Is it still going to be a non-issue in ten years when there's a much better connector, but the EU laws which move with the speed of a thousand year old glacier and are deliberated and enacted by tech- illiterates still force everyone to use a USBC connector? Many countries already enact laws to specifically address every single human problem (and only the attorneys win), now we're enacting laws to address a specific human preference? What a joke
By doing that you cable gets unrecognized every 6 months. I have enough with lightning. Now all my charging place has a QI charging pad. You know what? This pad is even cheaper than the lightning cable and works always.
I've never had either break but my USBC ports on MacBook Pro don't click at all after 3 years of use, they're soft like mashed potatoes. USBC ports on my other devices click in but wiggle. USBC has better transfer speeds but I'd rather have a solid connector that clicks in and doesn't budge than USBC with its tiny sliver of a center piece, a weakness that lightning doesn't have. I wish USBC had its same transfer speeds with a good form factor like lightning, maybe then we wouldn’t need laws to force companies to use it 🙄
I use the pad for charging too, I maintain that if I'm going to plug something in, lightning feels like a way better connector than USBC
What about them? They're important, but if a need arises for a tech company to have a more waterproof port, or a more durable port thaf doesn't wiggle around like a crappy dollar store electronic device, there should be laws preventing them from using it? Laws made by people that don't understand technology? Lol
Dude, the lightning connect was definitely innovation. But the comment refers to micro-regulation of product design by government. That is where innovation is going to be lost.