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EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

engadget.com

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Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#81

Post by schleck8 »

PinguTS wrote: post #72
schleck8 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> makes it for the average consumer a nightmare. No, it doesn't. Almost all my devices (macbook, camera, speaker, phone, headphones...) use usb c pd and I am using the same three cables interchangeably for all of them, no issues. If Apple choses to intentionally break this compatibility it's a user hostile company.

If everything is so cool, so why is this Google engineer reviewing USB-C cables? https://www.theverge.com/2015/11/5/9674462/usb-type-c-google...

Because this was in 2015 and the cables were bad? There is many low quality lightning ripoffs on Alibaba too

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#82

Post by kalleboo »

2000UltraDeluxe wrote: post #18
lekevicius wrote: post #14

As a European, I'm very happy. USB-A has been with us for over 20 years. It's only disappearing because of USB-C, and USB-C seems to have room to grow. I wouldn't be surprised if it will still be the most popular connector in 2035, and not just because "legislation stops innovation". Making sure there are no weird exceptions to a very good port is reasonable and good.

The idea's nice. I'll still have about 30 unusable micro-USB chargers lying around, though.

Interesting, I've never seen a charger with microUSB permanently attached, all my chargers have a USB-A port where you can change the cable.

In any case, you can just stick tiny plug adapters on all your chargers. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G54XXZZ/

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#83

Post by gardaani »

chenzhekl wrote: post #68

Just curious. If there is a seemingly better connector emerged in the future, could vendors experiment it on new devices on their own? Or do they have to first submit a proposal to the regulator and then deploy it to the device after the proposal has been accepted? I am afraid that the latter could harm innovation.

Apple is already doing that on MacBooks. They have USB-C connectors for charging (that will be mandated by the EU law in the future) and they have a MagSafe connector (their innovation).

They can do the same for iPhone: one USB-C connector for charging and one innovation connector.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#84

Post by krageon »

jjcm wrote: post #52

One thing I would love to see here is an end of life for this ruling. I.e. “effective as of 2024, but not enforced after 2030 without renewal”. Market saturation of the standard alone should be enough to get alignment on a single connector, following which it will require significant effort to deviate from it regardless of legislation. I’m still happy with this in the short term - very tired of having to juggle two t…

> Market saturation of the standard alone should be enough to get alignment on a single connector

Sure, but it's not. So this is not smart.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#85

Post by frizlab »

freddex wrote: post #60
frizlab wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lightning is a far superior plug than usb-c (don’t tell me about data transfer, I don’t care, I care about the durability and ease of plugging of the plug itself), I have MANY lightning cables (that I will have to throw away, how is that good for e-waste?), and in a more general sense the law basically forbids evolution. I am livid that they’d do something like that instead of working on actual stuff like forbidding…

Fair enough about your existing cables, but cables would be thrown away if we enforced Lightning, as well (probably a lot more, but I have no numbers on that). I don't really get the arguments of durability and ease of plugging, both cable types seem very easy to plug. As for durability, that seems to depend on cable quality and not on the USB C standard. As for evolution/innovation, sure, that's a real downside. See…

Sadly, they actively refused to work on mining IIRC. I think it’s what’s making me the more mad (and sad) really. They’re willing to work on stuff that don’t matter at best/make thing worse depending on PoV (because in all honesty imposing a specific plug does not matter, the market had _already_ chosen USB-C), but working on stuff that would actually do good, that they won’t.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#86

Post by Hamcha »

qalmakka wrote: post #2

2024? There's still plenty of time for them to remove the port altogether and go with just MagSafe/Qi. Which they control, and they still can get fees from. Trust me when I say that Apple will NEVER submit to this legislation, they will find every sort of obscure or arcane tricks to comply with it without actually doing it. It would set a precedent that legislating can change Apple's behaviour, which they clearly do…

If it's going down to a pettiness war, I don't think the legislators will give up that easily.

Apple reacting in a petty way not only shows that the legislators were right on the money (while adapting shows they were forced, whether for good or bad) but gives them even more reason to push the buttons further.

Digital Markets Act is definitely getting more fuel and attention after Apple's petty response to ACM's complaints in the Netherlands. [1]

1. https://developer.apple.com/support/storekit-external-entitl...

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#88

Post by mrjin »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #39
Nextgrid wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still not a great spec if it's so complex that you can screw it up. I understand the complexity for data, but for power I wish it was as simple as power & ground wires and that's it. Compare that with USB-A where even cheap Chinese cables from the lowest bidder usually work (work well enough at least - you might get voltage drop but it will still charge if you leave it on long enough) because the spec is so simp…

>It's still not a great spec if it's so complex that you can screw it up. People and companies can screw thing up royally regardless of spec complexity when there's no review/oversight involved. That's not a valid argument. If you want to force and check adherence to a spec you need to involve certification authorities (TÜV, SGS, UL, etc.) but then widget prices would increase dramatically. Edit: to address the child…

Just pick a couple of those USB-C docks on the market and check how many are actually working for you. I used over 10 different USB-C docks from different vendors. It doesn't matter which vendor, they all have various issues. They might be perfectly fine for some machines but lots lots of troubles for some other machines which are also perfectly fine with some of the other docks. I have never seen something worse than that.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#90

Post by akmarinov »

simondanerd wrote: post #80

Will that have an effect on the devices sold on the US market? I would love an iPhone with USB-C.

Either (sorted most likely to least likely):

1. All iPhones get USB-C

2. Only EU iPhones get USB-C, US sticks with lightning

3. iPhones become portless with wireless charging only

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