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EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

xda-developers.com

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Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#71

Post by mrsuprawsm »

sph wrote: post #4

Good, though in practice it's not the charger the problem, I use the same USB plug everywhere, it's Apple and their cable. Right now I always need with me a micro USB cable, an USB-C one, and Lightning, because Apple thinks different™. What's Apple reasoning for not abandoning Lightning for USB-C on their phones?

The lightning connector is a more physically robust one than USB-C.

The male lightning connector is a single flat piece; the female connector is a hole with the contacts on the top + bottom of the port.

Compare to USB-C, which has an exposed "tab" in the middle of the female connector, and the male connector has a matching "hole" in the middle.

This makes USB-C more vulnerable to e.g. dust collecting, and damage of the exposed tab. Unlike lightning, which can collect dust in the female port, but it's easily cleaned out using a paperclip or SIM card removal tool.

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#72

Post by clement_b »

Would it be possible for EU to select a standard, and request each member state to tax non-standard products sold at an increasing YOY rate. This would give some time to Apple to figure it out while putting the words in action now without punishing consumers from day one. Also, making some money on the back of a GAFA.

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#73

Post by kozlowsqi »

sph wrote: post #4

Good, though in practice it's not the charger the problem, I use the same USB plug everywhere, it's Apple and their cable. Right now I always need with me a micro USB cable, an USB-C one, and Lightning, because Apple thinks different™. What's Apple reasoning for not abandoning Lightning for USB-C on their phones?

I have like 3 lightning cables, apple deprecating lightning would account to me throwing these cables away and buying usb-c. I suppose other apple users would have to do the same. Not to mention other lightning accessories, headphones and such. Lightning is still included on airpods (pro and max).

Furthermore, usb-c is younger than lightning. And lightning was arguably superior to previous usbs (more durable).

So while unification sounds nice, net gain would be actually close to nothing, it would be a change for the sake of change, and would probably annoy as much people as it would please.

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#74

Post by eptcyka »

maeln wrote: post #44
sph wrote: post #4

Good, though in practice it's not the charger the problem, I use the same USB plug everywhere, it's Apple and their cable. Right now I always need with me a micro USB cable, an USB-C one, and Lightning, because Apple thinks different™. What's Apple reasoning for not abandoning Lightning for USB-C on their phones?

> What's Apple reasoning for not abandoning Lightning for USB-C on their phones? I can think of 3 reasons: 1. A lightning port is slightly smaller than USB-c, so it enable Apple to keep their phone slimmer than the competition in theory. 2. Apple loves to be in control of everything. With lightning, they could make a switch to a "lightning 2.O" cable / port whenever they so pleased. With USB-C they would be restricte…

I think most iPhones on offer are a fair bit thicker than their Android counterparts. Specifically, most Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy phones are smaller than all but the Mini iPhones.

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#75

Post by pjerem »

enlyth wrote: post #45

Maybe unpopular opinion but I like lightning more than USB-C, it makes more sense to me to have the connective parts of the cable on the outside of it, which gets rid of that little "notch" on the inside of USB-C ports which just seems like it can get bent at any time.

I wholeheartedly agree. Lightning, as a connecor, is really superior to USB-C : solid, stable, simple and compact.

Too bad Apple didn't wanted to give this one to the USB consortium and we'll now be stuck with USB-C (and don't get me wrong : as much as i love the lightning connector, I vastly prefer a standard connector for everything, so USB-C it'll be).

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#76

Post by GuB-42 »

avianlyric wrote: post #24
sph wrote: post #4

Good, though in practice it's not the charger the problem, I use the same USB plug everywhere, it's Apple and their cable. Right now I always need with me a micro USB cable, an USB-C one, and Lightning, because Apple thinks different™. What's Apple reasoning for not abandoning Lightning for USB-C on their phones?

Probably they think they can make the jump to a completely wireless phone before any USB-C mandates come in. Apple's timing with the lighting port wasn't great, with it arriving just before USB-C, and I imagine they're very reluctant to change the port on their phones because people already have lightning cables everywhere. Personally I would love to see USB-C on my iPhone, but I look at my parents, and having the po…

Wireless charging is terrible from an energy efficiency standpoint. Considering that the standardization effort is supposed to be for the environment, and that includes energy efficiency requirements for chargers, I don't think switching to a less efficient charging method will be looked over kindly.

But it is Apple, who knows what they are going to do to avoid regulation.

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#77

Post by oaiey »

jsudi wrote: post #65
iSnow wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why the EU back then banged the heads of the manufacturers together to force them to come up with a common standard, instead of picking one and forcing it down their throat.

So we’ll be unable to ever improve on usb-c? How’s that good for anybody?

See other thread. If the industry wants it, it is highly effective in influencing legislators. It is called lobbyism and typically we complain about it but sometimes it is also good.

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#78

Post by wasmitnetzen »

connor-brooks wrote: post #34

An average consumer probably gets a new phone every 1-2 years. That means 50-100g of junk plastic every year per person. This seems very small compared to the amount of non-recyclable plastic I get every time I go to the supermarket (Fruit and veg in plastic wrapping). Are USB cables very resource heavy to make? Is there something that makes them especially bad when compared to other waste?

The EU very recently banned a lot of single-use plastics[1], so it's not like they're just targeting a random small problem here.

[1]: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/topics/plastics/single-use-...

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#79

Post by johannes1234321 »

clement_b wrote: post #72

Would it be possible for EU to select a standard, and request each member state to tax non-standard products sold at an increasing YOY rate. This would give some time to Apple to figure it out while putting the words in action now without punishing consumers from day one. Also, making some money on the back of a GAFA.

There is a time to figure it out. The whole thing is discussed for years. Apple must have seen it coming. In addition the legaslative process isn't finished, yet. And then the final legislative measure will have a grace period and only affect new products.

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#80

Post by hungryforcodes »

mrsuprawsm wrote: post #71
sph wrote: post #4

Good, though in practice it's not the charger the problem, I use the same USB plug everywhere, it's Apple and their cable. Right now I always need with me a micro USB cable, an USB-C one, and Lightning, because Apple thinks different™. What's Apple reasoning for not abandoning Lightning for USB-C on their phones?

The lightning connector is a more physically robust one than USB-C. The male lightning connector is a single flat piece; the female connector is a hole with the contacts on the top + bottom of the port. Compare to USB-C, which has an exposed "tab" in the middle of the female connector, and the male connector has a matching "hole" in the middle. This makes USB-C more vulnerable to e.g. dust collecting, and damage of t…

We don't really know that -- USB-C hasn't been out long enough. I can tell you that for durability I hate lightning, because it always seems to have connection problems after a while and the plug itself seems overly complex for what it does. I can't recall ever having any such connection problems with micro USB or USB A for example.

In general it's easy to see also that the lightning connector itself is far more exposed to the environment than any of the USB connectors which are largely enclosed.

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