Which is indeed reasonable, as it gives you more options - specially with USB-C becoming ubiquitous
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EU Reaches Agreement to Force iPhone and AirPods to Adopt USB-C by Fall 2024
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Mechanically speaking, the Lightning port is superior to the USB-C port. Lightning is a true male-to-female connection. USB-C is mixed up. The cable end is male for insertion, but the pins in the cable are female. Conversely, the device side is female for insertion, but the pins are male. So you end up with the device side port having a fragile male connector piece. Lightning is much more mechanically robust.
Your examples are useless because their of different categories. USB-C and Lightning is the same category. A cable to transfer data and charge devices. One is outdated proprietary USB 2.0 vs USB-C extremely fast and which is a standard in most of new products.
Coming soon:
- EU will tax each device for “certification and compliance”
- Creation of government department which will be tasked with “researching the impact of emerging technologies in the data communication and charging space”
- Laws governing the length and efficiency of USB cables. “Our research indicates that most people do not need a full meter of cable for everyday use, so the mandated sizes will be in increments of 0.9M”.
- Collusion between government and creators of the next USB standard. “USB-EU is clearly the superior standard for the next generation European. These hookers and re-election campaign contributions should alleviate any concerns you might have about signing it’s mandated usage into law.”
- An increase to the device tax to cover the “costs” of certifying the next USB standard
- Emerging research that the average distance from a wall-plug to nightstand is actually 0.7M. New cable lengths will be reduced to increments of 0.8m
- Security exploit found in the USB-EU standard. The formation of a cable integrity task-force will conduct a “thorough investigation” into why “government-approved” devices are endangering the well-being of its citizens. The 0.8M cable will be exonerated; device manufacturers will be held responsible for any and all issues
- Device tax increased again to cover added expenses for cable-integrity studies.
- Ever-increasing cable taxes discourages the purchase of cables; tax revenues start to decline, resulting in the launch of a “consumer wireless transmission” study to understand why people don’t want to use cables and what impact that has on the average European.
- Wireless charging pads will mysteriously start catching fire more frequently, with more media coverage. Increased anecdotal reports of phones catching fire because users did extremely large wireless backups which overheated the phone
- Legislation is passed to require government oversight of wireless charging technologies.
- New tax is levied on wireless charging pads and/or any device where it is believed that most data transmission will occur wirelessly versus wired connection
- EU will tax each device for “certification and compliance”
- Creation of government department which will be tasked with “researching the impact of emerging technologies in the data communication and charging space”
- Laws governing the length and efficiency of USB cables. “Our research indicates that most people do not need a full meter of cable for everyday use, so the mandated sizes will be in increments of 0.9M”.
- Collusion between government and creators of the next USB standard. “USB-EU is clearly the superior standard for the next generation European. These hookers and re-election campaign contributions should alleviate any concerns you might have about signing it’s mandated usage into law.”
- An increase to the device tax to cover the “costs” of certifying the next USB standard
- Emerging research that the average distance from a wall-plug to nightstand is actually 0.7M. New cable lengths will be reduced to increments of 0.8m
- Security exploit found in the USB-EU standard. The formation of a cable integrity task-force will conduct a “thorough investigation” into why “government-approved” devices are endangering the well-being of its citizens. The 0.8M cable will be exonerated; device manufacturers will be held responsible for any and all issues
- Device tax increased again to cover added expenses for cable-integrity studies.
- Ever-increasing cable taxes discourages the purchase of cables; tax revenues start to decline, resulting in the launch of a “consumer wireless transmission” study to understand why people don’t want to use cables and what impact that has on the average European.
- Wireless charging pads will mysteriously start catching fire more frequently, with more media coverage. Increased anecdotal reports of phones catching fire because users did extremely large wireless backups which overheated the phone
- Legislation is passed to require government oversight of wireless charging technologies.
- New tax is levied on wireless charging pads and/or any device where it is believed that most data transmission will occur wirelessly versus wired connection
“But what about when a new standard comes along?!” say Apple fans who are content with 480Mbps USB 2.0 speeds and limited charging capabilities.
That sounds good on paper. But the thunderbolt ports (usb-c) on one of my Macs have been fine for over 4 years, my Android phone has usb-c and is 3 years old. But I've had an iPhone that was less than 2-years old where the lightning port went bad and the phone would not charge properly, so I had to get the port repaired or replaced.
I think USB-c will be just fine on iPhone. I mean it works well on the Mac and various iPads, so why would we expect it to not also work well on the iPhone as well? Lightning was a good solution but it's time to move on.
They (the companies) get together like they did with USB-C and develop/approve a new connector when USB-C reaches its' limits then it'll be a time for a new connector.
Annoying government overreach. I prefer the current connector because it seems far more robust than USB-C.
The plan, unveiled last year, was provisionally approved Tuesday and will save consumers an estimated 250 million euros ($267 million) each year according to the European Commission. The European Parliament and 27 EU countries need to sign off on the agreement.
Meanwhile, millions of containers of consumer electronics utilizing whatever charging ports they want will arrive from China every year and the EU will turn a blind-eye to it because regulating China hurts people's feelings, strains relations, and is bad for business.
They update the law? It's not like they're saying this is the only port they're ever going to allow. They can always adopt a new standard when one is decided on.
Simple solution: In Europe, Apple can ship a MagSafe puck pre-attached to the back of the iPhone. MagSafe uses USB-C. Users will almost certainly remove it before use but for all intents and purposes, the iPhone ships with a USB port for charging.
We Yanks like to keep the government out of running our businesses.
Some of us have lightning accessories and or have magnetic chargers and use airdrop to transfer files.
are you sure? its late 2024 ...how do we know Apple didndt had a close conversation and told EU that they already want to remove the lightning port by 2023 or 2024 ?!
If it was really EU...i bet they would force apple in 12 months to do so
I think apple already intended to remove the lightning by then anyway
Because they would be able to continue using the cables they already have with their new iPhones if the EU had not forced a change effecting billions of users worldwide. Their choice, their expense.
It's weird for a government to enforce use of a connection type. We'll have a different version of USB in a few years - or something entirely different/better will come along. This stifles innovation more than it helps consumers.
All... that fabled Lenovo with their legendary Thinkpads that everyone convinced me were the real workhorse Windows machine, that after I bought discovered the screen was rubbish, the ergonomics were rubbish, the battery was rubbish, the reliability and quality were rubbish, and oh god not to mention the software ecosystem (how about 3 different OEM 'lenovo vantage' apps competing with Windows' utility to push updates to the machine that were buggy)
I flirt with Windows here and there, but always end back in the warm loving bosom of Apple...
Apple likes to sell extremely old and out of date iPhones at more “affordable” prices. How will they get around this legislation when they still have older iPhones in their lineup? I’m guessing dongle.
You both might be interested in the following post:
Will iPhone 14 be USB 2.0? Probably, since Cook is mediocre.
Apple computers have had USB 3.0 since mid-2012. That is 10 years ago. Despite that, Tim Cook, being the mediocre beancounter MBA suit that he is, has still not done anything to upgrade the connectivity on the latest iPhones. The latest iPhones use the same USB 2.0 connectivity that shipped with...
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