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Top Lightning-Based Apple Products That Must Switch to USB-C by 2025 for EU Sale

Woyzeck said:
Glad the EU handles these things according to consumer interest. They did the same with electric charging ports for cars and the result is that you can charge your car in Europe everywhere and all proprietary connectors are gone.
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And this is a very good thing *for* innovation. Proprietary charging cables for cars actually prevents adoption.

On the Apple front: I'm really looking forward to recycling all my lightning cables. I've a bunch I no longer use when travelling at they have old usb-a connectors. I don't really want to buy replacement ones that'll only work with older apple gear.

I've held off on upgrading my (increasingly aged) iPhone until it too charges by usb-c. It's now the only piece of kit I regularly use that isn't usb c.
 
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Comeon Apple its almost 2023. Ditch the lightening and ditch type c!
Magesafe should’ve been with iPhone X
 
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Standard Chargers nowadays have a USB-C hole.....on the charger that is. So using a USB-C to Lightning cable, Apple would still be using standard chargers!!!
 
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BMcCoy said:
The requirements that all laptops also need to use USB-C for power by 2026 is the more interesting part for me - and not just for Apple products, but the variety of Windows laptops I use, ALL of which have a different charger and connector.
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Do they have to switch to USB-C for charging or merely just support it? In many cases, laptops can spare enough space to support a proprietary port along with USB-C ports which they need for peripheral attachment anyway. They probably don’t all allow charging over USB-C right now, but that could change over the next two years.

I figured this is how the new regulation would be worded, but haven’t read it. I also assume this is why there‘s no mention in the article of Apple’s latest laptops being impacted. Yes, they have a proprietary charging cable, but they also can be charged via their USB-C ports.
 
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GeoStructural said:
ALL OF THEM SHOULD. Lightning was nice when it came out, but it is basically USB from 1992. The file sizes we use today, the expectations of interoperability, power delivery, etc. has rendered Lightning obsolete years ago.

And stop being innocent and defend Apple “this will stifle innovation”. No! Any consortium or corporation can come up with a better connector any time. Apple keeps Lightning around because they make money out of it, end of the story.
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Lightning uses the USB 2.0 protocol which was finalized in 2000 (the original came out in 1996), but I get your point. Apple has numbers, I’m sure they back up that few people use that port for data transfer.

I personally wish the EU would go all in - not just require the same connector, but also base protocol support and power delivery requirements. I have many cables with USB-C on at least one end, but what they do when connected to my various USB-C-enabled devices varies wildly. The USBIF are too lax.
 
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GeoStructural said:
ALL OF THEM SHOULD. Lightning was nice when it came out, but it is basically USB from 1992. The file sizes we use today, the expectations of interoperability, power delivery, etc. has rendered Lightning obsolete years ago.

And stop being innocent and defend Apple “this will stifle innovation”. No! Any consortium or corporation can come up with a better connector any time. Apple keeps Lightning around because they make money out of it, end of the story.
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" Any consortium or corporation can come up with a better connector any time." Lol. What happens when a new connection, better than USB C comes out? guess what? Can't use it or they need to change the laws.
 
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IllinoisCorn said:
" Any consortium or corporation can come up with a better connector any time." Lol. What happens when a new connection, better than USB C comes out? guess what? Can't use it or they need to change the laws.
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The same process happens, obviously. Apple are free to propose their legacy lightning as a standard, but I guess they don't want to.
 
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lkrupp said:
I wonder what your response will be when the EU or other government mandates something you disagree with and you think will interfere with your way of doing things.
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Plenty of people disagree with legislation. There's a process call an election where countries can elect representatives.

In this case, the representatives gave a majority vote in favour.

I guess you're in favour of having tonnes of different cables for various different things?
 
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SoldOnApple said:
My bet is Apple ditches the port altogether and releases MagSafe 2 which charges as fast as current fast chargers somehow. Apple will start selling a wireless DAC that lets you plug regular headphones into it.
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If I am not mistaken, Apple will now be REQUIRED to have usb-c charging on their phone and can no longer go portless. This is an example of how this might holdback innovation.
 
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lkrupp said:
I wonder what your response will be when the EU or other government mandates something you disagree with and you think will interfere with your way of doing things.
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You're strawmanning because the big bad EU is making the fruit computer company do something that you don't like for whatever reason while the majority of power users want.
 
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singularity0993 said:
I don’t get why some people defend Apple for keeping the Lightening port. Do they like to carry separate cables for their iPads & Macs and iPhones & AirPods?

Even Apple’s own product lineup is using different ports, how isn’t this annoying? I’m glad EU is pushing for standardization.
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Honestly, I don’t particularly like Apple’s prolonged commitment to lightning. However, I don’t like the government dictating specs To companies. As others have posted, iPhones are likely to be portless before long… (timeline might be pushed up), and the new requirement will be outdated. when you think about the tax resources dedicated to an issue of this kind, it boggles the mind. Or put another way, Apple is far more likely to pay attention to significant market forces than to an law of this kind (note: I don’t mean they won’t comply, rather that they will develop products moving forward with more regard to market forces)
 
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By end of 2024 mean that Apple can still legally release Lightning based products on September 2024, but obligated to switch by September 2025.

Knowing Apple we probably won’t see USB-C iPhone till 2024-2025. And let’s not forget that they probably end up going portless.
 
IllinoisCorn said:
" Any consortium or corporation can come up with a better connector any time." Lol. What happens when a new connection, better than USB C comes out? guess what? Can't use it or they need to change the laws.
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There will be no new connectors; USB-C will be it until everything goes wireless. No company will deal with trying to get a new standard approved by the EU.
 
FaustsHausUK said:
Lightning uses the USB 2.0 protocol which was finalized in 2000 (the original came out in 1996), but I get your point. Apple has numbers, I’m sure they back up that few people use that port for data transfer.

I personally wish the EU would go all in - not just require the same connector, but also base protocol support and power delivery requirements. I have many cables with USB-C on at least one end, but what they do when connected to my various USB-C-enabled devices varies wildly. The USBIF are too lax.
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Apple might be able to show that few people use the port for data transfer, but they also hype the professional capabilities of the camera but then say "ope, ya gotta use AirDrop or iCloud Photo Backup" because of how slow USB 2.0 is. Austin Mann's review of the iPhone's cameras pointed out what a pain point that is.
 
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cocky jeremy said:
Lets "save the environment" by forcing everyone with Lighting cables to go by USB C now.. stupid. What could you expect from a bunch of government morons though?
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I already have USB-C cables scattered throughout my house. Due to the low durability of most cables, I have to replace Lightning cables all the time anyway… just for my phone, trackpad and keyboard. This is a weird argument unless the _only_ device in your house is an iPhone.
 
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