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Top Lightning-Based Apple Products That Must Switch to USB-C by 2025 for EU Sale
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This.^^^
Every day I watch the girl at work pull her lightning cable out from her phone by yanking from the middle of the cable instead of grabbing the actual connector. Her cables constantly fray. I pull from the connector and I've still have some of my original cables. Never have I had fraying issues.
Bottom line: It's a pointless committee-blighted rule to solve a problem that largely went away in the 00s and is best solved by mandating a detachable cable with a USB port in the charger so the chargers don't end up in landfill - which Apple already does. Every mobile device I've bought in the last decade or so has done this & I've mostly been able to travel with a single charger - and what they really need to do is to extend this practice to other types of device (peripherals etc.)
Practically, though I don't see the problem - USB-C isn't perfect but it does the job and Apple is already using it in some mobile devices and all laptops. It's getting pretty stupid to have Mac peripherals that charge via lightning. Also, Apple either need to switch to USB-C or invent a Lightning 2 connector to support TB3/USB4/USB 3.2 and higher-res HDMI/DisplayPort as newer devices need to move more data. Yeah, lightning is slightly nicer to use, but USB-C isn't bad and is definitely better than the never-to-be-sufficiently-cursed MicroUSB.
What isn't clear is whether manufacturers will be allowed to have wireless charging or Magsafe-like chargers as well as USB-C charging (which is the case with current MacBook Pros).
(NB: I still detest USB-C as the only connection on full-sized laptops and personal computers - but it's useful for Mobile devices and a welcome replacement for Micro USB).
If you look at your second paragraph, you seem to have walked yourself through one scenario of how standards could be changed… a different standard could be introduced elsewhere in the world and the EU could adopt it.
But if you want a walkthrough of other ways how things could change. Just look at the iPhone. It will have USB-C and magsafe, which is an alternative charging standard in itself…
To develop a new standard all you would have to do is have USC-C as a legacy charge port and introduce whatever charging standard you want beside it. If it gains significant traction, you could propose an update to the standards. Or a standards body like the USB- IF could develop a new standard and lobby the EU to adopt it by demonstrating broad industry support to adopt it.
The idea that a government mandated standard can’t be updated/replaced in the future is simply a fiction. Government mandated standards are updated all the time. See car safety, radio bandwidth allocation, municipal building codes, etc.
Why should Apple embrace a technology that's getting long in the tooth?
Time for them to roll out wireless USB.
Apple could provide a small dongle that snaps on the bottom of your phone making it a bit longer that gives you any type of port you want at thunderbolt speeds.
Time for them to roll out wireless USB.
Apple could provide a small dongle that snaps on the bottom of your phone making it a bit longer that gives you any type of port you want at thunderbolt speeds.
We like companies designing products without interference from governments, unless absolutely necessary.
My ex-girlfriend did this. Ugh. She did it to one of my cables once that she was charging her phone on. I told her to pull by the plug and not the cable. She didn't listen and kept doing it.
Heh, there were a few reasons it didn't work out, but the complete disdain she had for her own stuff (leaving me to sometimes have to rescue her because she broke something) was definitely a factor. Remember, when you get married, your stuff becomes their stuff too. *shudder*
Lightning can experience physical damage too, the plug is prone to bending, this makes it difficult to connect to the receiving end, you have to keep adjusting it by hand or it doesn't work at all. Another, more important perhaps is that the metallic pins are completely exposed, they can damage more easily than in a USB-C where they are in the inside.
USB-C supports USB 2.0. So Apple could deliver the same speed and no data transfer at all to be in compliance with the directive.
My wife is a menace to technology, but I still love her all the same. Throw kids in the mix and AppleCare becomes more valuable than health insurance. I used to worry about it, but now it's just a fact of life and an excuse to visit the Genius Bar and see an Apple Store every few months.
It sure is.
I mean, you can't buy a Huawei phone in the US... but that's not against their "freedumb".
Because laws can and do change.
No and I'm not sure what your point is here.
I guess you've never heard of lobbyists. And again, this relies upon an antagonistic view of government.
I think Apple has done a good job of stopping innovation themselves with their USB 2.0 iPhone ports.
Pretty sure the USB-IF is more than capable.
Most of the times EU politicians don't use brain at all. GDPR rules are such. After GDPR, we spend at least 10 minutes everyday with cookie settings. I think after GDPR rules more websites started collecting data and force you to accept their terms.
USB-C Vs Lightning, one positive thing I can see if Apple change to USB-C is the data transfer speed. I don't need that speed but there are millions of people who need to move pro-res videos and such. What's the point in having a TB storage space and lousy 480mbps. But, EU's argument about electronic waste is ridiculous. Apple ships without any charger and with a USB-C to lightning cable. That means, you need a USB-C charger to use your lightning cable. So, how can it be a waste? Whether it is a lightning or USB-C on the other end, you can use the same charger. Only problem I see is when you want to use friend's cable who has an Android to charge your iPhone.
USB-C Vs Lightning, one positive thing I can see if Apple change to USB-C is the data transfer speed. I don't need that speed but there are millions of people who need to move pro-res videos and such. What's the point in having a TB storage space and lousy 480mbps. But, EU's argument about electronic waste is ridiculous. Apple ships without any charger and with a USB-C to lightning cable. That means, you need a USB-C charger to use your lightning cable. So, how can it be a waste? Whether it is a lightning or USB-C on the other end, you can use the same charger. Only problem I see is when you want to use friend's cable who has an Android to charge your iPhone.
I'd be happy if future iPhones have a USB-C port that also uses the Thunderbolt protocol for data transfer.
It would be nice to transfer all those ProRaw and ProRes photos and videos over Thunderbolt to a computer.
It's great that Apple added all these photo and video file formats to the iPhone... but it takes a long time to transfer these files using the USB 2.0 protocol.
It would be nice to transfer all those ProRaw and ProRes photos and videos over Thunderbolt to a computer.
It's great that Apple added all these photo and video file formats to the iPhone... but it takes a long time to transfer these files using the USB 2.0 protocol.
I don't think Apple will introduce USB-C on the iPhone. I think they will remove the charging port entirely and only rely on MagSafe/Qi. Just because that's how Apple is.
I remember I had an earlier iPad Pro that had a Lightning port that had USB 3.0 and a special USB 3.0 version of the Lightning to SD card reader so I could download photos faster. I wonder why Apple never brought that over to the iPhone? It's really weird they didn't given the file sizes of their raw photos and videos.
I’m glad I bought the iPhone 14 Pro and the APP2. The Lightning connection feels so sturdy and secure. Love it still! My next iPhone will be portless so I’m going to fully embrace the Last of the Lightnings…! And one day when the inevitable arrives, I’ll look back nostalgically on the Lightning era, simply because of it sturdiness and reliability 🥲
My understanding is that the Lighting port doesn't have enough pins to support USB 3.0. They achieved it on the iPad with a hack.
It's so ironic... to replace a 30-pin connector with a 4-pin connector that is not future-proofed.
I was Pro-Lightning because it's small and elegant and has that satisfying "click". Overall, it seemed like a great connector, but I've had nothing but troubles with it on my iPhones. Ever since adopting various USB-C products, I've had a perfect experience. It's time for Lightning to go.