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Wouldn't be legal in the EU in 2024, they can't charge for it as an optional extra
I think that Lakersfan meant that Apple could charge people $99 for a new AirPods battery case with USB-C to replace their existing case. As opposed to having to buy all new AirPods with case. I don’t think that the EU would care about that.
 
For all the guys saying they use the MagSafe charging exclusively, isn't that damaging the battery quicker than a normal cable? Might be a small percentage of difference, but I'm pretty sure I've read induction charging will diminish the battery life a little quicker than just using a cable...

For me the USB-C is a welcome change, but lightning was also fine for me...
I'm no expert, but I do remember reading that wireless charging was a little bit harder on the battery than using the wired approach.
 
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Question for you.

Apple makes and sells a lot of devices that are Space Gray in color. Macs, iPhones, iPads. Do you believe that space gray is a "standard" for consumer electronics case color?

Likewise, all AirPods (other than the Max) are white and plastic. Is white plastic the "standard" for wireless earbuds?

The word "standard" has meaning. Standards bodies define what standards are, not you, not I, although ironically, look what company is listed first as having sat on the promoter workgroup that defined the USB-C standard? Apple helped create USB-C, and did so knowing full well they would replace Lightning with it. Yet they dragged out the process out of desire to maintain control.

Apple maintaining proprietary control over Lightning as an Apple-only connector does not make it a standard, it makes it an obstacle to standardization and that's problem.
For starters, you are intermixing ”standards” and ”standardization”. And to your color logic, not even sure how to start on that odd logic path, suffice it to say, there is even standardization there. Just check out Belkin’s, or Logitech’s marketing for products in “Space Gray” to go with Apple products - there actually is a standard, and their products are a perfect match. And Samsung has “Cosmic Gray” for example (and not “Space”)

The lighting cable is a, and also has a, “standard”, including data rates, power supply and MiFI to be to meet the full ”standard”. It also provides (or provided) standardization across the Apple portable electronics product line (at one time). Even though it is proprietary, as was the Tesla Charger for a full decade, it is a recognized standard, with fixed requirements to be met by licensed manufacturers. Yes, if the world becomes “standardized” on charging/data cables for mobile devices, then they would all have to use the same “standard”. And that is the direction we are clearly moving. The failure of something to become a “global” standard, or non-proprietary, such as Toshiba’s HD DVD (losing to Bluray) and Sony’s Betamax (losing to VHS), does not disqualify it as a standard. Those products also were not standardized to the industry.
 
I think that Lakersfan meant that Apple could charge people $99 for a new AirPods battery case with USB-C to replace their existing case. As opposed to having to buy all new AirPods with case. I don’t think that the EU would care about that.

Sure they could sell the case separately for people who don't want to replace their airpods.
 
For starters, you are intermixing ”standards” and ”standardization”. And to your color logic, not even sure how to start on that odd logic path, suffice it to say, there is even standardization there. Just check out Belkin’s, or Logitech’s marketing for products in “Space Gray” to go with Apple products - there actually is a standard, and their products are a perfect match. And Samsung has “Cosmic Gray” for example (and not “Space”)

Yes, I used "standardization" in its actual contextual definition of a process by which a company, organization, or individual proposes a design or method to become a standard. Words have meaning.

You are unwilling to accept that the word "standard" in this context applies to a specific, structured process and instead keep insisting that only its colloquial meaning as a result of market momentum (or in the case of Apple and Lightning, entirely artificial market restrictions) is what makes it a standard. How do I know this? Because you took the bait of my question about space gray.

If we're not going to discuss the same thing or even agree to the language we're going to use, it's probably better we just agree to disagree and have a good 4th. Cheers.
 
Apple learned that most of their customers are not technical and don’t like to change things. That was one of the factors that they had to consider when thinking about switching to USB-C.

Meh. That didn't stop Apple from dropping the floppy disk, or when they started to sell notebooks without DVD drives, or when they started to sell iPhones without headphone jacks, or when they killed 32bit, or when they moved from PowerPC to Intel, or when they moved from Intel to their own silicon.

Apple never particularly cared about their users being set in their ways when they thought there was a good reason for change.

Maybe MFI licensing was the reason they stuck to Lightning on the iPhone. Maybe they just didn't see any urgency in adopting USB-C when, as many here have pointed out, some earlier USB standards weren't particularly great and also didn't really stick. I certainly preferred Lightning over anything other than USB-C.

More generally, and not aimed at you, I find it peculiar how a forum in which people regularly spend a lot of money to replace perfectly good iPhones with a slightly better version of said iPhone can argue so passionately about waste when it comes to standardising cables.

At this point, Apple isn't even compatible with itself anymore. USB-C is good enough, widespread and Apple already uses it. Additionally, I don't think we're anywhere close to a portless future so let's just rip off the bandaid and have one cable that can charge all of your Apple devices. The fact that it additionally can charge basically any other phone, tablet, headphones, computers and many other consumer electronics devices out there is just icing on the cake.
 
Why does anyone listen to this con man? He is beyond annoying with his stupid predictions. I think Eva and her crystal ball could do a much better job. Unless you like reading how the next whatever will likely have an on/off switch!
Mark Gurman has been right many times more than he is wrong. That includes throwing out all the obvious predictions.
 
Plenty of other improvements, and does nothing to address the issue of short term thinking causing a long term problem.

I don't know what you're saying here.

The iPad 3 should never have been released and Apple proved it by unceremoniously replacing it 7 months later with a model that they continued to sell for over two years. I should know, I had one. iPad 3 goes down in Apple's mistakes column, it doesn't excuse anything.

Actually iPad 4 should have been released later. But that doesn't really contribute anything to the argument.

Should have put more work into USB-C then and not diverted resources on a different connector.

Putting more work into USB-C doesn't make it come out faster. It's an organization of many parties and quite often Apple collaborates and address concerns of other manufacturers. Adding 2x the people on Apple's side doesn't suddenly make USB-C come out 2x faster. This is a very narrow way of thinking.

Again Apple Pencil 1 arguably should not exist and has only served to further fracture the iPad lineup.


Saying XYZ shouldn't come out essentially means telling Apple: "Hey, stop building products for 2 years". That's not how a publicly traded trillion dollar company works.


No I think that's about it. No matter how you slice it, their short term thinking has caused this long term problem of having to make another transition, this time to the universal standard they should have used in the first place.

You didn't even address the other points. Sorry, but you're deliberately ignoring my points and going off tangents and/or putting incoherent points together. This is not how you have a proper discussion. This is not a good use of time so, have a good one. 👋
 
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Apple's current mac book charger uses usb c. Are you not in Apple's ecosystem?
I don't think you understood my point. We're talking about throwing away lightning cables because they're no longer useful due to the mandate of USB-C ports.
 
Hoping they also update the Magic Keyboard/trackpad/mouse and MagSafe battery to have USB-C this fall too. Having only one cable for everything will be so nice. Finally.
 
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The last weak link, still have first gen. But I still feel upgrading the Pros over a port is kind of a waste, they’ll probably sound mostly the same. Is selling Airpods on auction even a thing? Not very hygienic imo.
 
I don't think you understood my point. We're talking about throwing away lightning cables because they're no longer useful due to the mandate of USB-C ports.
The lightning cable still works with your current iPhone, your iPhone isn't obsolete now cause future iPhones use a different connector. Your current iPhone case isn't going to work with future iPhones.
 
The lightning cable still works with your current iPhone, your iPhone isn't obsolete now cause future iPhones use a different connector. Your current iPhone case isn't going to work with future iPhones.
My phone is almost dead so I have to get the next phone.
I don't use a case.
 
Wow was there this much complaining when Apple went from the 30 PIN to Lighting? “Now I have to get new cables”. There probably was, I don’t remember back then.
 
Meh. That didn't stop Apple from dropping the floppy disk, or when they started to sell notebooks without DVD drives, or when they started to sell iPhones without headphone jacks, or when they killed 32bit, or when they moved from PowerPC to Intel, or when they moved from Intel to their own silicon.

Apple never particularly cared about their users being set in their ways when they thought there was a good reason for change.

Maybe MFI licensing was the reason they stuck to Lightning on the iPhone. Maybe they just didn't see any urgency in adopting USB-C when, as many here have pointed out, some earlier USB standards weren't particularly great and also didn't really stick. I certainly preferred Lightning over anything other than USB-C.

More generally, and not aimed at you, I find it peculiar how a forum in which people regularly spend a lot of money to replace perfectly good iPhones with a slightly better version of said iPhone can argue so passionately about waste when it comes to standardising cables.

At this point, Apple isn't even compatible with itself anymore. USB-C is good enough, widespread and Apple already uses it. Additionally, I don't think we're anywhere close to a portless future so let's just rip off the bandaid and have one cable that can charge all of your Apple devices. The fact that it additionally can charge basically any other phone, tablet, headphones, computers and many other consumer electronics devices out there is just icing on the cake.
Oh, I’m not arguing for keeping Lightning. I am more than ready to switch everything over to USB-C. I consider the e-waste aspect to be mostly a wash no matter which way it goes. People will get cables and people will discard (or recycle) old cables when it suites them. Overall I expect it to average out.
 
Wow was there this much complaining when Apple went from the 30 PIN to Lighting? “Now I have to get new cables”. There probably was, I don’t remember back then.
Once the switch happened, the uproar was deafening for a few weeks. Everyone was sure that Apple did it just to be able to sell you new cables (even when they were just using the cable that came with the phones).
 
My phone is almost dead so I have to get the next phone.
I don't use a case.
Why throw them out? Give them to family or friends or donate them to a cafe, restaurant library if you no longer need them, this saves people going out to buy new ones, reducing ewaste of a cable.
All but one lightning cable are going to my parents who have an XR and 11, rather than them going to buy new cables, if they have any working non frayed cables after a few year then they pass it on too.
 
Why throw them out? Give them to family or friends or donate them to a cafe, restaurant library if you no longer need them, this saves people going out to buy new ones, reducing ewaste of a cable.
All 6 lightning cables are going to my parents who have an XR and 11, rather than them going to buy new cables.
You're assuming all these people don't already have a surplus of lightning cables. Believe me, I've tried giving some of my anker cables away already to friends and family. They've all told me they already have too many.
 
You're assuming all these people don't already have a surplus of lightning cables. Believe me, I've tried giving some of my anker cables away already to friends and family. They've all told me they already have too many.
Ohh then thats easy, drop them off at a thrift store. You’ll make someone happy to get a cheap cable and you’re reducing ewaste
 
Ohh then thats easy, drop them off at a thrift store. You’ll make someone happy to get a cheap cable and you’re reducing ewaste
That doesn't really solve ewaste anyways. Manufacturers have already planned for a wind down. So if someone buys my cable, that's one less sale Anker gets which will eventually get thrown away if not sold. With the accelerated adoption of USB-C ports, lightning port's death is accelerated and there will be a ton of fully functioning lightning cables that far outlast most lightning devices, much more than had Apple had full control over lightning port.
 
Meanwhile on the software side, Gurman said Apple is developing a new hearing test feature for AirPods Pro that is designed to detect possible hearing issues. The new hearing test feature, which is coming in addition to other AirPods features arriving as part of iOS 17, will "play different tones and sounds to allow the AirPods to determine how well a person can hear," said the Bloomberg reporter.
Now this sounds cool. Record an audiogram and log it to Health. I currently use the Mimi Hearing Test app for that. Would be cool to have this natively built into the AirPods Pro.
 
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