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Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

bbc.com

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Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#101

Post by Yetanfou »

jeswin wrote: post #96
ppf wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why it has proven so durable, but I'm still using a Motorola-branded charger and microUSB cable that came with a Defy+, around 2012.

The original Defy (2010) was the best phone I had ever owned. Water resistant, hardy, high resolution and very, very pocketable. I think the folks on XDA kept OS updates available till Android 7.

No, it did not go beyond 4.4. 5.0 has been booted on it but never got any further, mostly due to the fact that nobody got a 3.x kernel running satisfactorily on the device. I do use one with a 3.1 kernel (running MPD) but all the others are still at 2.6.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#102

Post by Yetanfou »

deogeo wrote: post #97
kd913 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a rather pointless stat though. None of the cables currently available are rated for 9 years and most have a ridiculously short lifespan of 1-2 years anyway. In fact it probably works against Apple as it demonstrates that the churn of innovation doesn't really exist if new advances only occur every 9 years.

2 year lifespan, seriously? My phone's standard mini-USB cable is at least 5 years old by now, and shows zero signs of wear. What the hell is Apple doing to make such awful cables? Edit: Correction - it's a micro-USB cable.

Making lots of money, that is what they're doing. They do seem to have managed to get people to believe that it is normal for a cable to fail after such a short time.

By the way, I guess that your phone's standard cable is not mini-USB but micro-USB.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#103

Post by christophilus »

hrktb wrote: post #87
bjtitus wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it pointless? The article talks about trying to cut down on electronic waste: > The regulator is determined to cut down on electronic waste being created by obsolete cables, which it estimates generate more than 51,000 tonnes of waste per year. It's surely much less wasteful to extend the life of the cable standard than to ensure longer cable lifespans. Even if you had a cable that lasted 7 years, chances are…

Obsolete cables are not just technology marching forward, but also customers buying other makers’ devices that make them useless. An iPhone user buying an android phone will need a new set of cables, his old lightning ones have no purpose anymore.

iPhone users don’t switch to Android in enough scale for that to be a factor.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#104

Post by Turing_Machine »

andylynch wrote: post #99
Turing_Machine wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But we already have that. The power brick almost always has a USB connector on it nowadays (even with Apple), and it didn't require setting up a perpetual committee of bureaucrats to feed at the public trough.

As others have noted, this was in large part due to the European Commission’s common external power supply initiative back in 2009, and similar standards in Asia.

Others may have "noted" that, but it doesn't make it true. In fact, the EU common external power supply does NOT require a USB connection on the power brick. It be hardwired ("captive", in their terminology).

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#105

Post by ksec »

Would someday they mandate all USB-C cables to support 100W standard to reduce wastage? So we dont have fragmented USB-C cables?

For those of us old enough to remember we used to have dozens of different types of cables, We are now basically converging to CatX Ethernet Cables, HDMI, USB-C High Power and Low Power, and Lightning.

I dont understand why we need to further mandate this to "one" solution, especially when the "one" solution doesn't seems to be optimal in all situation.

We have a few, a little diversity, and it is good enough.

Edit: And if Apple were to adopt a new connector I would much rather they adopt the Smart Connector used in iPad Pro. It is magnetic, super simple and easy to use. Fully Sealed and Water Proof by design.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#106

Post by colourgarden »

shawabawa3 wrote: post #94
ridewinter wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm reminded about 30 times a day when dismissing a cookie popup of the stupidness of EU regulations. When considering the lifetimes wasted recreating that popup on countless websites, I'm ready to go full Libertarian.

The craziest thing about the EU pop up is that it's not actually required by law Someone decided to do it and everyone just copied All you need is a link to a page describing your cookie usage

That's not strictly true, unfortunately. Court cases have been brought and won against companies who do not acquire explicit consent from their users when storing information in cookies.

Companies then build solutions in reaction to these cases. The law is the ass.

Source: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/digital/cookies-eugh-urteil-webs...

"Außerdem müssen Nutzer der geplanten Cookie-Nutzung explizit zustimmen. Demnach reicht es nicht, dass Nutzer einmal bestätigen, dass sie die bereitgestellten Cookie-Informationen gelesen und verstanden haben."

"Users must explicitly agree to the planned use of cookies. It is not enough for users to confirm they have read and understood the provided cookie information."

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#107

Post by mvanbaak »

LyndsySimon wrote: post #36
orf wrote: post #28

iPad Pro already has a USB-C connector, clearly Apple are already in the process of doing this

I picked up a pair of AirPods Pro a bit ago, and was surprised to see a Lightning connector. Not only that, but the included cable was USB-C to Lightning. I don’t know why they bothered at all, honestly.

Because most of the people who buy the airpods, have an iphone. So, they can use the cable they use to charge their iphone to charge their airpods and vc versa.

The fact that it's an usb-c to lightning is because all their macbooks are usb-c ;-P

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#108

Post by ppf »

jeswin wrote: post #96
ppf wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why it has proven so durable, but I'm still using a Motorola-branded charger and microUSB cable that came with a Defy+, around 2012.

The original Defy (2010) was the best phone I had ever owned. Water resistant, hardy, high resolution and very, very pocketable. I think the folks on XDA kept OS updates available till Android 7.

Sadly, I can't say the same of my experience with the Defy+. I found it quite disappointing. Small screen, bulky case (that was fragile and broke around the external screws), and not much more wear and water resistant than a regular phone. I dug it out recently and sold it on ebay, although I'm not sure what can be done with a phone stuck with an old version of the play store.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#109

Post by tonyedgecombe »

gerdesj wrote: post #40
DEADBEEFC0FFEE wrote: post #14

While I'm fraustrated with the connector diversity in my home, I'm not at all keen to have technology design mandated. Would this forbid a certain type of product from using something better, and force new design to be via committees? I mean, it's not like Europe uses all the same mains power plugs. Well, I guess UK leaving will help there.

I have lived with both the UK and the "Euro" "standardish" 2 pin with earth on the outside plug for my formative years. I'm a UK army brat. I'll take the UK plug any day. It is bigger by far in two unimportant dimensions but thinner by far in the important one. The chord runs downwards on all UK plugs not at 90 degrees to the wall by default but I will accept that many Euro plugs also run downwards. A UK plug is a bi…

Yes, the only downside is when you stand on it.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#110

Post by hurricanetc »

brandur wrote: post #19

Does anyone know if there's any merit to Apple's claim that USB-C isn't compatible with the iPhone's slim dimensions? (From the article: "Apple insisted that its slimmer devices would be unable to fit the then-new USB-C technology ...") Just looking at the tech specs for the iPhone 11 (lightning) [1] versus iPad Pro (USB-C) [2], the former is actually thicker at 8.3 mm compared to 5.9 mm, and yet the iPad Pro can hav…

Total bullshit. This is the same excuse they used when they courageously got rid of the 3.5mm jack.

The easiest explanation is that there is a vast accessory market for lightning and it creates stickiness within the Apple ecosystem.

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