Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

xda-developers.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 751 posts

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

#231

Post by thefz »

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?

Digging up rare earth and metals to use them a coupe of years and then throw them in a landfill is insane. I'm happy the EU has stepped in for this kind of regulation. As for the supermarket, vote with your wallet and buy the less plastic you can.

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

#232

Post by wwtrv »

shrikant wrote: post #136
kozlowsqi wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 whi…

Keep the cables, and buy Lightning-to-USB-C dongles that will inevitably show up in the market?

How is that any better than just buying a new cable?

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

#233

Post by Scoundreller »

donatj wrote: post #226

Hear me out, I’m an Android guy at heart and I genuinely believe the lightning connector is vastly superior. I never have lightning connectors fail to seat, nor fall out of a socket while I’m using a device, nor have I ever broken a lightning connector on a device. These are all seemingly fundamental problems with USB-C. I have had THREE USB-C sockets fail on two phones through normal use, on Pixel and OnePlus device…

Maybe they can make a USB-C-1 that fits at the start and then USB-C-2 and USB-C-3 that are microscopically bigger to fit those old and wrinkly connectors?

Wouldn’t that be great?

(Semi-joking, I know some NES games (Konami?) had slightly thicker PCBs that would always work, but at the expense of decreasing the machine’s life overall on every other game). I guess ZIF is the way to go, but hard to fit into small form factors than something slide/brush contractors.)

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

#234

Post by ptman »

proto-n wrote: post #87
Philip-J-Fry wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Normal USB A ports have that little notch on the inside too. For all the years I've lived on this planet I've never broken a USB port. USB C is perfectly fine. The worst part of lightning is how flimsy it feels once it's been worn in. Plus having the connectors inside with something to line it up seems like a battle hardened design choice now. Unless you're an idiot, you're not gonna break anything.

Fwiw I broke I think more then 10 micro usb cables / ports throughout the time when they were everywhere, it was kind of prone to breaking. Never managed to break a regular usb, mini usb or usb c though. So I don't think proneness to breaking is inherent to this design, but the opposite isn't true either.

micro usb should be more durable than mini usb: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/21/facebook-paid-billi...

it would be sad if they didn't try to improve on previous designs

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

#235

Post by thefz »

qalmakka wrote: post #84
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?

Well USB cables use some copper and some have gold-plated contacts. In any case, the EU has been complaining about cables for who knows how long, so I guess they have their own reasons, backed by data, to argue for their standardisation. It surely doesn't make that much sense to let Apple do its own hypocrite thing where they spew out platitudes about the environment while clearly the only driving force behind their…

Agree. given that USB-C has an insane bandwidth and can power even laptops, there is absolutely no need for different standards. Let's all agree on one and move on. Apple's stance is ridiculous and justifies only some more profit.

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

#236

Post by misnome »

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?

> because Apple thinks different™.

This is a little unfair, when Apple has been more consistent in keeping the same ports and cables, and moved to generic USB-chargers long before it was standard for anyone else?

USB-C wasn't even finalised until 2014; I can't remember how common USB-C was on phones before that, but Apple was using lightning for _years_ before that.

What's the e-Waste consequence of changing and forcing everyone to buy new chargers, adapters, cables when they next buy a new device? Suddenly all the cables and chargers you've been using for ten years are useless.

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

#237

Post by Scoundreller »

sgtfrankieboy wrote: post #198
hocuspocus wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, Apple's own USB-C equipped iPads are slimmer than any of their phones.

Besides, what's the point of a thinner phone when you got a huge bump for the camera's. Rather it be a bit thicker so that there is more room for battery. I personally really wish for a flag ship phone like the Galaxy S21 Ultra that doesn't have such a huge camera array.

That and the more fragile the device, the bigger the case you (should) have anyway.

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

#238

Post by oaiey »

squiggleblaz wrote: post #122
oaiey wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh they targeted plastic bags already. The food industry will get their blast, but their problem is harder to solve than chargers.

Is this something yet to come into law? I find it very hard to buy the vegetables I want at German supermarkets because they so often come wrapped in plastic sets of three. Even bananas have a substantial amount of sticky tape around them.

Plastic shopping bags are regulated. The supermarket packaging madness is ripe for regulation.

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

#239

Post by deelly »

donatj wrote: post #226

Hear me out, I’m an Android guy at heart and I genuinely believe the lightning connector is vastly superior. I never have lightning connectors fail to seat, nor fall out of a socket while I’m using a device, nor have I ever broken a lightning connector on a device. These are all seemingly fundamental problems with USB-C. I have had THREE USB-C sockets fail on two phones through normal use, on Pixel and OnePlus device…

Looks like all other people on internet with broken lightning connector are blatant liars..

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

#240

Post by MayeulC »

Philip-J-Fry wrote: post #64
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.

Normal USB A ports have that little notch on the inside too. For all the years I've lived on this planet I've never broken a USB port. USB C is perfectly fine. The worst part of lightning is how flimsy it feels once it's been worn in. Plus having the connectors inside with something to line it up seems like a battle hardened design choice now. Unless you're an idiot, you're not gonna break anything.

I have broken at least two female USB-A ports, with a cable pulled sideways tearing the inside tab off. Luckily, this always was on motherboards that had a spare one just next to it.

In later revisions (at least starting with micro USB, perhaps mini as well), the cable was explicitly designed to be the part prone to breakage, as it's easier to replace.

Post reply on HN