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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

#741

Post by notacoward »

midasuni wrote: post #726
notacoward wrote: post #694

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you cite a sample of N=1 and then claim than anything else must be from within a bubble? Interesting.

I’m at a hotel breakfast, so far this morning I’ve seen half a dozen usb-a sockets and not a single usb-c socket. Majority of electronic devices are older than usb-c standard, even the electric screwdriver I bought two months ago was micro-usb, as is the shaver I used this morning. At work about half the low power devices are PoE or Micro-USB. Aside from a few laptops USB-C is still rare.

That's still just anecdote. I have USB-C for one pair of headphones, two pairs of earbuds, a bedside light/charger, and of course my phone. But I don't assume my experience is universal. I look at data, as should you, and it does seem that there are indeed billions of devices out there using USB-C.

https://epsnews.com/2017/12/28/usb-type-c-adoption-keeps-gro...

Looks like phones alone account for ~3B in a single year, so no, it's not just laptops. Even if you exclude those, the "consumer electronics" segment looks like it'll go over 1B/year pretty soon. Get out of your bubble.

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

#742

Post by notacoward »

fomine3 wrote: post #717
midasuni wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t own a single usbc device, I have lightning on my phone, and tons of microusb-usbA devices/cables “Billions” sounds like a HN bubble statement.

US bubble.

Not according to real data.

https://www.marketresearchblog.org/2021/09/22/usb-type-c-mar...

That seems to show that the US is a plurality, but not a majority, of USB-C shipments.

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

#743

Post by rglullis »

shawnz wrote: post #740
rglullis wrote: post #739

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> competitive with iPhones on performance. That is technically not true (Samsung makes their own electronics and their own displays. Flagships from other companies are often based on better specs than Apple's) and completely irrelevant to the point. > take advantage of that monopolistic position What monopolistic position?! > to drop consumer-friendly features like removable batteries What?! That makes absolutely no…

> completely irrelevant to the point. It's the entire basis of the argument which I am making. Maybe you are reading past what I am saying if you think it's irrelevant. > What monopolistic position?! The position in which they have access to the highest performance hardware. > If consumers (as a whole) wanted to have removable batteries, companies would fulfill the demand by producing and marketing those. Customers a…

Yes, your argument that consumers (as a whole) base their choices on performance and technical specs is flawed. Maybe you are concerned about that and most of your peers, but I can bet that the absolute majority of the consumers have other criteria in mind.

Look and feel, for example, would be sacrificed to have removable batteries. Have you seen the Fairphone? It looks like a brick from 2010. It is by far the ugliest phone that I ever had. Do I care about it being ugly? No. But believe it or not, people will not want removable batteries if that means an "uglier" phone, or one that can fall on the floor and get disassembled.

Features always come at a trade-off. If Apple or Samsung wanted to have removable batteries, their phones would have to be larger, or use smaller batteries, certainly they would have different waterproofing ratings, etc. To think that they just don't offer it because they are abusing their monopoly (sic) on high performance hardware (sic) is beyond naive.

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

#744

Post by pantulis »

zxcvbn4038 wrote: post #729
pantulis wrote: post #668

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious, why do you keep all that stuff around?

So I don’t have to pay for a new ones next time I need one. My headphones need micro-b, my gps uses mini-a for data and mini-b for power, my China phones might use any of the mini or micro connectors - whatever they had a lot of that month, usb-a is the most common connector I find while traveling, raspberry pi uses micro b, etc.

Thanks for your answer! I understand the USB "estandards" going around, but what surprised me was that you kept old Nokia and Samsung charging cables. I got rid of all of them in my last moving.

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

#745

Post by IvanK_net »

hungryforcodes wrote: post #645
IvanK_net wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the better one is expensive (e.g. the creator asks for license fees), we should choose the cheaper one. Just like the VHS has beaten the Betamax.

I'd rather pay for the nice one to be honest. So I guess we can't just have one connector.

We have one type of electric sockets (at least within each country). But there certainly can exist better kinds of sockets than those used in your our my country. But I am glad that we all have same sockets in our houses, even though they are not perfect.

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

#746

Post by jonplackett »

jonplackett wrote: post #111

It seems to me thr EU is very good at making plans without considering second and 3rd order consequences. This seems like a good idea on the surface but look at the shit-show that the cookie/data regs have created on the web today. I hope whatever law they write is encompassing enough that we don’t get the equivalent of horrible workarounds - maybe apple just stops having a cable and we all have to buy MagSafe now…..

Thanks for the downvotes. I’ll be checking back in with an ‘I told you so’ in about 10 years

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

#747

Post by goalieca »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #734
goalieca wrote: post #684

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airdrop transfers data at full wifi speed and I’m sure we could make a universal standard for that. The charging pads go as high as 15 watts right now. I’m certain we will see more improvements in the future.

You gotta consider what the EU is doing, it's not all about Apple, they want everything uniform.

Yeah and monocultures are generally bad. If they want to Fix things then invest in open standards and working groups and file some RFCs that compel people to switch. Micro-dictating things aren’t the way if no harm is being done to the public. This is more about convenience.

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

#748

Post by hungryforcodes »

IvanK_net wrote: post #745
hungryforcodes wrote: post #645

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather pay for the nice one to be honest. So I guess we can't just have one connector.

We have one type of electric sockets (at least within each country). But there certainly can exist better kinds of sockets than those used in your our my country. But I am glad that we all have same sockets in our houses, even though they are not perfect.

Fair enough. :)

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

#749

Post by PeterisP »

harvie wrote: post #129
amelius wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't we have protocol-agnostic cables? I mean, we use hundreds of different protocols over-the-air, so why can't we do the same with cables?

3.5mm headphone jack with hole drilled in midle carrying optical fiber would handle all use cases i can imagine. From delivering power, charging phones to connecting several 8K monitors. multiple protocols can use separate wavelengths of light, all at once in single fiber. Hundreds of gigabits are possible, maybe more, depending on the length. While still being able to connect wired headphones.

Cost of connectors matters. Manufacturers wouldn't want to put expensive optics adapters for every need where a cheap connector would suffice.

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

#750

Post by OneTimePetes »

pif wrote: post #733
OneTimePetes wrote: post #732

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Afd in germany is going into the same direction Also remember, until the day the brexit vote happened, the Brexxit was not possible,not real and not even worth discussing on HN. Such things might not make waves in the high-tech bubble, but in the real world, such movements might be considerable. Lots of people see globalism as a attack on their life and community by now.

> Lots of people see globalism as a attack... I agree with you on this point. It's worth noting that they are usually the same people who actually push for globalism, every time they choose "cheaper" over "local".

Do they really choose? Wage stagnation is very real- so going for the cheapest, is not really a choice, just a attempt to keep your economic downfall from materializing.
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