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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

#131

Post by vladvasiliu »

torginus wrote: post #43
jl6 wrote: post #35

I want to like this, but I charge my iPhone with a cable that has lightning on one end and USB-C on the other, and I know from extensive direct experience that the lightning end is the better physical design. Supporting this is tantamount to believing that there will never need to be a USB-D that improves upon USB-C, and I just can’t believe that.

The problem with lightning is that the springs that fix the plug in place are on the port, not the cable. This is the part that wears out, and when it does, the port will need to be replaced, not the cable.

How often does this happen in practice, though?

My 6 year-old iPhone that I plug and unplug a bunch of times a day still keeps the plugs in very snuggly. They basically don't move. And I've pulled on the connector many, many times, by stepping on the cord and pulling the phone up.

Contrast this with my 2 month-old laptop in which the usb-c cables move around, even though it spends 90% on the time plugged in.

---

Edit: I did have connection issues at one point, but it was due to pocket lint that had accumulated inside the port. It was easily removable with a toothpick, and the connector went back to working like new.

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

#133

Post by rtkwe »

jamil7 wrote: post #116

Wasn't Apple probably going to do this anyway?

USB-C has been out and stable for years and they haven't so I'm not certain they're going to drop lightning for their phones any time soon. It's been a few generations of iPhone since they went with C on the iPad and I would have expected those to move together or more closely if they were interested in moving to USB-C on their phones.

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

#134

Post by thinkindie »

What I don't understand from Apple - they have already made the move to USB-C with laptops (ditching the Magsafe - that was way more practical than the USB-C connector), why resisting this much for the iPhone/iPad/etc? I understand that they have additional revenue streams by licensing lighting to accessories manufactures, but still...

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

#135

Post by 369548684892826 »

gadders wrote: post #118

I don't have an apple phone, but my daughter does, and I've always thought that mechanically at least the Apple connector was better because it had less bits to go wrong. USB C, like micro USB has that "tongue" piece that has to fit inside the end of the cable which always looks like it could snap off. The Apple connector is just a solid piece that goes in the end of the phone. No fiddly interlock pieces.

The lightning connection does seem to have interlocking pieces, but the moving parts are in the socket rather than on the plug. The plug has grooves on the side to lock into the sprung clips in the socket.

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

#136

Post by rmm »

bluescrn wrote: post #101
akmarinov wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Portless could be a pain for developers, if the only way to deploy/debug is wifi, and the only way to charge is a wireless charger (which may not be able to keep up with the discharge rate of a device being used to test a game/app all day)

They will probably have data transfer through the MagSafe by then.

https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=...

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

#137

Post by jonwinstanley »

ubermonkey wrote: post #130

It's just really not clear to me that regulators need to be mandating product design. I have no expectation, for example, that these same regulators will stay on top of this and revise it when USB-C stops being the preferred or best choice. Twenty years ago, we really DID have a snarl of competing and proprietary phone ports. It was a mess -- Blackberry chargers didn't work with Palm; most WinMo devices had their own…

Exactly. So silly.

Plus Apple Watches have always been only charged via conductive, so it’s likely phones could have gone that way too within a short space of time if the lack of a data cable was deemed acceptable.

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

#138

Post by ajmurmann »

dan1234 wrote: post #120
akmarinov wrote: post #97

That's very interesting, not because the new iPhone would have a USB-C, but due to the fact that Apple continues selling older phones. Currently they sell the SE, 11, 12 and 13 By 2024 they will be selling a SE, 13, 14 and 15. Will they rework the SE, 13 and 14 to get USB-C? Will they stop selling them just in Europe? That's potentially a lot of money left on the table.

As I read it, the new laws are concerned with the chargers more than the devices being charged - if Apple just includes a lightning to USB-C cable (as they already do for the 12), wouldn’t that be enough to satisfy the legislation?

I keep hearing that this is about waste, primarily chargers, as you point out. I wonder if the best solution is to just include neither a charger nor a cable. At this point I have USB chargers and cables for every situation in my life and any additional cable or charger would just be a waste, no matter if USB-C or -A. Have just the people who still need more chargers or cables buy those (or maybe reverb outlet covers with chargers built-in). Everyone else can safe some money and reduce future garbage.

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

#139

Post by mojuba »

happy_path wrote: post #132

Can't they give a free adapter when selling an iPhone?

Exactly my thought. That would save many kilotonnes of lightning chargers and cables from being thrown away (and replaced with USB-C ones for no good reason really).

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

#140

Post by dhzhzjsbevs »

ubermonkey wrote: post #130

It's just really not clear to me that regulators need to be mandating product design. I have no expectation, for example, that these same regulators will stay on top of this and revise it when USB-C stops being the preferred or best choice. Twenty years ago, we really DID have a snarl of competing and proprietary phone ports. It was a mess -- Blackberry chargers didn't work with Palm; most WinMo devices had their own…

Apples racketeering and monopolistic behavior?

I think this is a step over the line for regulators but so is apples behavior for the last decade or two when it comes to repairability.

Fuck em.

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