Report: Apple to Stop Selling iPhone 14 and iPhone SE in EU This Month

[turbineseaplane]

But just because it makes my life easier doesn't mean we need the government coming in and mandating it.

We did actually need it --- because Apple wasn't doing it despite having years and years .... and more years..

You've admitted it's better for you - that's all that should honestly matter

People need to worry less about some "government bogeyman" ... these MegaCorps are not your friend, despite the sheen of their branding and marketing

I like Apple and Apple products in general, but I'm not deluded about who and what they are and if anyone thinks they are "better" or doing things "more in your interest" than any government bodies, I have a bridge to sell you.

 

[GMShadow]

Prime example: my mother in law has not upgraded her phone BECAUSE the new ones are all USB-C and she doesn't want to go out and buy a bunch of new cords everywhere. For normal users the change to USB-C is annoying.

My mother deliberately went out to get a 14 Pro Max when I'd told her the 15's were changing to USB-C. She didn't want to have to have a different cable than everyone else. She'll probably switch in another year or two now that everyone else is moving, but yes, changing cables annoys the vast majority of consumers.

Myself, I have a car charger I can't use anymore as it was a fixed cable unit I bought with my iPhone 6 (since I was going from 30-pin to Lightning). So much for 'reducing waste' on the EU's part.

 

[raghu8912]

That's unfounded speculation. Everything points that Apple was already moving towards USB-C, at most this moved it up a year. And now we're stuck with USB-C forever because no one has any incentive to develop a better port.

EU idiocy strikes again! They don't know better than product designers and shouldn't get involved. We're lucky they didn't succeed when they tried this with Micro USB a few years back.

EU created a monopoly

 

[spazzcat]

I think it was Phil Schiller who said that.

I stand corrected, either way they say they would get a decade out of the port and they got a decade out of the port.

 

[raghu8912]

We did actually need it --- because Apple wasn't doing it despite having years and years .... and more years..

You've admitted it's better for you - that's all that should honestly matter

People need to worry less about some "government bogeyman" ... these MegaCorps are not your friend, despite the sheen of their branding and marketing

I like Apple and Apple products in general, but I'm not deluded about who and what they are and if anyone thinks they are "better" or doing things "more in your interest" than any government bodies, I have a bridge to sell you.

We did actually need it: your personal opinion, you needed it, not all.
If you needed USB C you could buy a phone with USB C.
there were lot of smart phones with USB C connector.
We don't want government to control everything.
Now EU created a monopoly, no one will use anything other than USB C for decades to come.
and government doesn't know anything about technology.

 

[raghu8912]

Normal users have had USB chargers around for years. Hell, my parents flip phones have USB-C. MacBooks have had them, Nintendo Switch, Bluetooth speakers, all android devices, other gaming consoles and controllers, Chromebooks, Windows Laptops, on and on and on.

I don't or care how much Apple was or wasn't making, we don't need more proprietary hardware. Your mother is the exception.

You don't know what USB C is, so you shouldn't comment, and i like the confidence you show in this comment.
The USB-C connector was introduced in 2014.
if you don't like proprietary standards then buy other phone that has USB charging, there are alternatives.

 

[no_idea]

This is a rare instance where I feel government intervention is a good thing

 

[sublunar]

I didn't realize this law applied to existing models. That seems kind of dumb. It would have been pretty easy to say, you can continue to sell an existing hardware configuration as long as you make no other changes.

I don't think it applies to existing models - just to new launches. As you say, my understanding is that the EU regulation allows Apple to continue to sell any previously launched product for as long as they like but new ones launched after the end of this year would need to have a USB-C charging port.

At some point Apple will want to be slipping in a section into a presentation about how all of their products have switched to USB-C for charging but we're not quite there yet.

And anything that Apple does now regarding the 'early' cancellation of the iPhone 14 would be their choice and not down to regulation.

That said, the precedent is there for the early cancellation of a product when an SE phone launched mid cycle so it wouldn't be a total surprise to see the SE4 drop and replace the 14.

Yes, Apple may not want to have a new phone incapable of accessing Apple Intelligence but they also sell an iPhone 15 which has the USB-C port so are likely to continue selling that till at least next September.

An iPhone 15 powered by A16 CPU would already look something of a white elephant when an A18 powered SE drops. Even if it came with A17 Pro, an SE looks likely to be a value choice considering what the 15 offers by comparison for likely a higher RRP on launch.

 

[raghu8912]

Normal users have had USB chargers around for years. Hell, my parents flip phones have USB-C. MacBooks have had them, Nintendo Switch, Bluetooth speakers, all android devices, other gaming consoles and controllers, Chromebooks, Windows Laptops, on and on and on.

I don't or care how much Apple was or wasn't making, we don't need more proprietary hardware. Your mother is the exception.

You don't know what USB C is, so you shouldn't comment, and i like the confidence you show in this comment.
The USB-C connector was introduced in 2014.
if you don't like proprietary standards then buy other phone that has USB charging, there are alternatives.

 

[turbineseaplane]

We did actually need it: your personal opinion, you needed it, not all.
If you needed USB C you could buy a phone with USB C.
there were lot of smart phones with USB C connector.
We don't want government to control everything.
Now EU created a monopoly, no one will use anything other than USB C for decades to come.
and government doesn't know anything about technology.

EU created a "standard" -- that's completely different than a monopoly

You're reacting as though there is a "USB-C Company" out there just raking in profits after being installed by the government

Standardized connectors benefit consumers -- that's you and me

None of what the EU has mandated w/ re: to USB connection standards places any company operating there in any relative competitive advantageous or disadvantageous situation as a result

 

[goobot]

No, they wouldn’t. They had already transitioned most of their products to USB-C by the time the law even was written.

Other than Mac and half of their iPad line up nothing else was USB C

 

[WarmWinterHat]

l

You don't know what USB C is, so you shouldn't comment, and i like the confidence you show in this comment.
The USB-C connector was introduced in 2014.
if you don't like proprietary standards then buy other phone that has USB charging, there are alternatives.

Yes, it’s been out for 10 years. I had windows work laptop with it back in 2017.

10 years. What’s your point?

My 16 pro has usb-c, and I will never own a phone with proprietary charging ever again. If Apple goes back to some other proprietary charging style, I leave Apple. Simple. No one should have proprietary chargers. It’s not needed, it’s not warranted, it’s not for the customer, it’s not good for the environment. The hospital I work for is chock full of them and and it sucks, and everyone hates it, but there aren’t alternatives, so we have to deal with it.

Apple moved on, thank goodness. I don’t care why or why or for what reasons. I’m just glad it happened.

The amount of people who truly think that Apple can’t be wrong is baffling. No matter what they decide, it’s the Right Thing, every single time. I really hate corporate fandom.

 

[emembee]

Slightly tangential, my iPad had an issue with USBC after just a week or two (unable to connect or intermiitent), vs previous one with lightning (10.5) and the genius bar guy said that usbc failed much more frequently, so i had it swapped out and no further issues. Hopefully a one off but never had connection issues with lightning.

 

[turbineseaplane]

This fanbase is hilarious

As one example here, go into the AirPods Max or Mac accessory discussions of the last few years and everyone was irate they weren't USB-C yet for the longest time

Now we have Apple finally leaning into USB-C thanks to the EU mandating it on many devices and people are happy it's happening ... but not how it's happening

lol

Apparently there is simply no way for people to be happy in Apple land

Apple wasn't doing it on their own ... I'm not sure how folks were expecting it to ever happen without some governing body with actual leverage over Apple telling them they had to

 

[KPOM]

None of what the EU has mandated w/ re: to USB connection standards places any company operating there in any relative competitive advantageous or disadvantageous situation as a result

Which could lead to stagnation. The EU could have mandated micro-USB in 2012 (and tried to). Then USB-C might never have existed. For that matter, a lot of the momentum behind USB-C was that it was reversible, just like Lightning.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Which could lead to stagnation. The EU could have mandated micro-USB in 2012 (and tried to). Then USB-C might never have existed. For that matter, a lot of the momentum behind USB-C was that it was reversible, just like Lightning.

The EU can update their rules just the same as the USB consortium can update the design.

The only stagnation I see in this whole thread is Apple with lightning.

 

[LV426]

I didn't realize this law applied to existing models. That seems kind of dumb. It would have been pretty easy to say, you can continue to sell an existing hardware configuration as long as you make no other changes.

Why? With that logic, Apple could continue making and selling iPhone 14 until Kingdom Come. When the whole point of the directive is to stop incompatible charging ports making their way into the hands of consumers.

 

[surferfb]

The EU can update their rules just the same as the USB consortium can update the design.

The only stagnation I see in this whole thread is Apple with lightning.

And why on earth would any company invest tens of millions of dollars to invent a new standard when they’d have no guarantee that the EU or USB consortium would agree?

Apple wasn't doing it on their own ... I'm not sure how folks were expecting it to ever happen without some governing body with actual leverage over Apple telling them they had to

Apple wasn’t doing it FAST enough for you, a tech nerd. They were CLEARLY moving in that direction.

There was no need for this regulation that had completely ended all innovation in connectors.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

And why on earth would any company invest tens of millions of dollars to invent a new standard when they’d have no guarantee that the EU or USB consortium would agree?

It’s not a standard if a specific company is doing all the invention, is it?

Said company could (and should) directly work with the EU leadership, and the consortium. No single company should be making a “standard”.

 

[Timpetus]

I didn't realize this law applied to existing models. That seems kind of dumb. It would have been pretty easy to say, you can continue to sell an existing hardware configuration as long as you make no other changes.

Bureaucrats don't get very far by making decisions based on logic...

 

[surferfb]

It’s not a standard if a specific company is doing all the invention, is it?

Said company could (and should) directly work with the EU leadership, and the consortium. No single company should be making a “standard”.

I can’t believe how many people are defending the EU here. If they had their way your iPhone would have Micro-USB. Governments have no business regulating product decisions like this. They don’t know better than product designers and engineers.

 

[erihp]

With the marketing push for Apple Intelligence it's probably best that phones not capable of it are removed from the market. It would suck for someone to buy a new iPhone, get it home and then realize it can't do the stuff they see in the ads.

you mean like use it at all?

 

[WarmWinterHat]

I can’t believe how many people are defending the EU here. If they had their way your iPhone would have Micro-USB. Governments have no business regulating product decisions like this. They don’t know better than product designers and engineers.

If Apple was good steward in this sense, I would side with Apple, but they weren’t. They showed that they would rather keep and sell a proprietary cable than follow a standard, despite calls from all around complaining that iPhone and iPad needed its own special cable, and it was stuck at USB 2.0, years afterwards 3 came out.

This isn’t about product designers and engineers vs the EU, this is about shareholder profit and lock-in.

 

[surferfb]

If Apple was good steward in this sense, I would side with Apple, but they weren’t. They showed that they would rather keep and sell a proprietary cable than follow a standard, despite calls from all around complaining that iPhone and iPad needed its own special cable, and it was stuck at USB 2.0, years afterwards 3 came out.

Again were CLEARLY moving in that direction. They’d already transitioned the iPad. They obviously thought Lightening was better for the majority of their customers at that point in time. I suspect they would have switched by now even without the mandate.

“Let’s make future products worse because Apple isn’t moving as fast as I would like” is quite the own goal.

 

[frenchcamp49er]

The SE 2025 should sell for $1000 in the EU