EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones • Hacker News Board

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

#481

Post by giancarlostoro » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:43 PM UTC

goalieca wrote: post #314

giancarlostoro wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My only thought is what will happen when someone invents a new charger that is significantly superior to what currently exists.

Like wireless charging pads?

Unless those transfer data and charge as quickly I dont see that being the case, I mean moreso in the case of actual charging cables. Apple dropped the ball on their magsafe wireless charger by not including a wall plug and charging $40 for something a lot of people couldn’t use. Some of the Amazon reviews are people who think its a counterfeit.

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

#482

Post by selfhoster11 » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:43 PM UTC

cherrycherry98 wrote: post #439

sidewndr46 wrote: post #287

Does anyone feel it is a little strange to have a government entity mandating a physical interconnect? I guess it has worked out well enough for receptacles. But on a phone it acts as a data connection as well. I guess I just wonder if in 20 years will every device still have a USB-C port on it in some odd location? No one is using it anymore, but it is still mandatory on everything.

Ports types have been converging naturally without government intervention. Even for iPhones, the writing is on the wall for the the lightning connector. It was introduced nearly 10 years ago under different market conditions (no equivalent USB standard existed). Apple is gradually converging on USB-C, MacBooks contain only USB-C ports, the iPad Pro uses USB-C instead of lightning. The rest of the product line can't…

They have been converging way too slowly, and wouldn't have converged as close to one standard without an intervention.

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

#483

Post by selfhoster11 » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

majinuub wrote: post #383

sidewndr46 wrote: post #287

Does anyone feel it is a little strange to have a government entity mandating a physical interconnect? I guess it has worked out well enough for receptacles. But on a phone it acts as a data connection as well. I guess I just wonder if in 20 years will every device still have a USB-C port on it in some odd location? No one is using it anymore, but it is still mandatory on everything.

Its not strange. However, I do think governments mandating it is an overstep and it should be strange. Then again, I am a voluntaryist living in the US so I'm pretty biased when it comes to government mandates.

The way I see it, it was the government stepping in where the invisible hand of the market did nothing (or not enough). IMO, that's part of why we pay taxes.

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

#484

Post by wyager » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

cherrycherry98 wrote: post #439

sidewndr46 wrote: post #287

Does anyone feel it is a little strange to have a government entity mandating a physical interconnect? I guess it has worked out well enough for receptacles. But on a phone it acts as a data connection as well. I guess I just wonder if in 20 years will every device still have a USB-C port on it in some odd location? No one is using it anymore, but it is still mandatory on everything.

Ports types have been converging naturally without government intervention. Even for iPhones, the writing is on the wall for the the lightning connector. It was introduced nearly 10 years ago under different market conditions (no equivalent USB standard existed). Apple is gradually converging on USB-C, MacBooks contain only USB-C ports, the iPad Pro uses USB-C instead of lightning. The rest of the product line can't…

> Ports types have been converging naturally without government intervention.

Agreed, so why bother with government intervention? The benefit is small and the potential long-term costs associated with retarding technological development are high.

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

#485

Post by beckman466 » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

sidewndr46 wrote: post #287

Does anyone feel it is a little strange to have a government entity mandating a physical interconnect? I guess it has worked out well enough for receptacles. But on a phone it acts as a data connection as well. I guess I just wonder if in 20 years will every device still have a USB-C port on it in some odd location? No one is using it anymore, but it is still mandatory on everything.

> Does anyone feel it is a little strange to have a government entity mandating a physical interconnect?

Does anyone feel it is a little strange to have a private company forcing users to use a black box physical interconnect; Apple's black box 'lightning' adapter?

USB-C is a well developed standard.

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

#486

Post by cma » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:46 PM UTC

jhoechtl wrote: post #362

ubercow13 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government already mandates the electricity interconnect one step back at the wall socket. This is just extending that to modern devices.

Just to be clear, power sockets are not standardized in the EU. Italy has different ones (Type L), France as well (Type E), and the UK too (but they are no longer ... you know) ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country

But still each govt standardizes them to some extent right?

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

#487

Post by toast0 » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:46 PM UTC

simonh wrote: post #396

GordonS wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I don't. Here the EU is creating legislation that forces manufacturers to increase interoperability, be more consumer-friendly, and more climate friendly. This all seems within the remit of governments to me. > I guess I just wonder if in 20 years will every device still have a USB-C port on it in some odd location? No one is using it anymore, but it is still mandatory on everything. Or course not, it's not like…

The fact is Lightning is so widely used in practice that force deprecating it would drive an awful lot of kit into land fills. If it was one of the dozen or so variations of little USB with 2% or 3% market share each you'd have a point, but those have mostly gone already. I don't expect Lightning to be around forever, but then I don't expect USB-C to be around forever either. Some day it will be super-ceded - should…

Apple could make an iPhone for a few years with usb-C and lightning if they wanted people to be able to use their existing gear, but that doesn't feel very Apple: their laptops jumped right from zero USB-C to zero ports that aren't USB-C.

They might also get some new customers; I was considering an iPhone rather than Android in my last phone purchasing round, but no USB-C means I need different charging, means I don't want to deal with it. No headphone jack is also something I don't want to deal with, been there, lost the dongle, would rather not go there again.

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

#488

Post by selfhoster11 » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:46 PM UTC

znpy wrote: post #425

sidewndr46 wrote: post #287

Does anyone feel it is a little strange to have a government entity mandating a physical interconnect? I guess it has worked out well enough for receptacles. But on a phone it acts as a data connection as well. I guess I just wonder if in 20 years will every device still have a USB-C port on it in some odd location? No one is using it anymore, but it is still mandatory on everything.

It honestly feels strange that this hasn't arrived earlier. Think about going back to every device having its own proprietary charger, as it was in early 2000s: - mobile phone? branded charger, incompatible with everything else - mp3 player? branded charger, incompatible with everything else - boombox? branded charger, incompatible with everything else - cordless phone? branded charger, incompatible with everything e…

Don't forget Sony. Chargers that have different connectivity and voltage for almost every device.

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

#489

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:46 PM UTC

sidewndr46 wrote: post #287

Does anyone feel it is a little strange to have a government entity mandating a physical interconnect? I guess it has worked out well enough for receptacles. But on a phone it acts as a data connection as well. I guess I just wonder if in 20 years will every device still have a USB-C port on it in some odd location? No one is using it anymore, but it is still mandatory on everything.

[deleted]

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

#490

Post by t43562 » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 2:47 PM UTC

worrycue wrote: post #433

majinuub wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not strange. However, I do think governments mandating it is an overstep and it should be strange. Then again, I am a voluntaryist living in the US so I'm pretty biased when it comes to government mandates.

I feel like it’s an overstep too. I don’t feel comfortable with bureaucrats determining which technology we should use. Going to stick my neck out, and some might say this is just a slippery slope fallacy, but should governments mandate choice of programming languages? It would certainly help interoperability and longevity of code - just like with connectors. Anyway on an emotion level it just feels wrong.

There's a problem - waste and people aren't solving it. So the government is trying.