White I totally understand your argument that governments cannot dictate private entities what to do, we have probably entered new post-corporate age.
Companies nowadays are not simply private entities, they have certain degree of social responsibility. Tight OS lock-ins, artificial barriers in what you can do all create that responsibility. People get tied to certain brands because they have their rules.
In my opinion, USB-C mandate was much-needed push. Who knows how many years it would have taken Apple to implement that already mature connector.
I am just mad at EU they didn’t do it back in 2019 when many major Android phones have already switched to USB-C (example: abovementioned Galaxy S10+ for example which I sold due to stupid edge scree that I honestly couldn’t use).
Wrong? Sure, maybe. Good? Absolutely!
When time comes and they invent some sort of “USB-X”, EU will simply mandate everyone use that one and make USB-C obsolete. Overregulation? Yes, but what else to do if these companies milking their users for as long as they want.
Regulations exists so users will be able to get a better product. For same reason there are multiple regulations about power requirements, safety requirements and so on
I think you are missing a lot of history here.
The EU has literally nothing to do with the USB-C standard or implementing it. That's the USB-IF which Apple is a board member on and worked with Intel heavily on with regards to Thunderbolt and USB4 etc. They were literally part of the design team for the USB-C standard in the first place. They also had nearly the first devices on the market.
The delay was, I suspect as they said it was, a completely user-centric choice and not related to pressure from the EU on this front at all. There was a slow rollout on their most popular device. As per many users I had Lightning accessories that I still needed. The EU however did seem to like taking credit for this transition.
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Going back to the original point, iPhone batteries have always been user replaceable. The problem is that most users do not have the skills, patience or knowledge to do it. It's not even hard. I've done several going back to the iPhone 5. It's just people have absolutely zero mechanical or material dexterity or knowledge at all. But they have an engineering opinion, which they are probably not entitled to if you ask me.
In my experience it is the same people who routinely moan about this who drive around in some Mercedes and pay 2x new iphones in cash in service every year, yet never perform the maintenance themselves.
I just got the battery replaced this weekend on my old 13 Pro which my daughter has. That is 4 years old now. I paid Apple £85 to do it and they had it for 2 hours and it's as good as new, the work was done professionally and the equipment used to seal/unseal it was the right stuff.
Does the EU really need to regulate that scenario?
No it's missing the point.
It should be regulating the trash end of the market. If you bring a product to market in the EU you should have a presence and a supply chain set up to offer repairs and to repair it for a reasonable lifetime. And you should dispose of it when the time comes as well.
Other companies need to step up and be more Apple, not hold Apple to account. They're sitting there hoping no one will notice them while everyone is complaining about Apple.
(that includes things down to childrens toys which arguably have a higher environmental impact on the use-once and throw in the trash scale)
