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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

#591

Post by cromka »

superb-owl wrote: post #589

I currently own several USB-C devices (Laptop, phone, Remarkable, Switch, portable monitor) and I can't tell you how nice it is to only have to bring a single charger with me when I travel. The biggest thing holding me back from getting an iPhone is breaking this pattern.

> The biggest thing holding me back from getting an iPhone is breaking this pattern.

You wouldn't real this patter with an iPhone: you can still use the same charger, with Lightning USB-C cable. In fact, this is the official cable you get these days with new models.

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

#592

Post by pawelos »

throw0101a wrote: post #563
tediousdemise wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kind of sad to me that Apple doesn't make Lightning an open standard. In all my years, I haven't had a single Lightning connector fail on me. The solid metal where the contacts reside is just too robust to wear out or get damaged (unless you somehow step on it the right way or let it corrode). USB-C connectors, on the other hand, seems to loosen after a rather small number mates and de-mates, leading people to u…

> In all my years, I haven't had a single Lightning connector fail on me. The solid metal where the contacts reside is just too robust to wear out or get damaged (unless you somehow step on it the right way or let it corrode). I'm on my second phone where the Lightning connector barely works anymore. 'Thankfully' this one support Qi so I can charge wireless, but if I want to do a wired backup or upgrade I have to jig…

Try cleaning the connector, when my lighting connectors started to fail, it was always caused by a ton of dust that I removed with a needle.

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

#593

Post by mort96 »

kalleboo wrote: post #501
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…

Basically what I'm assuming is that Apple will adopt USB-C on the iPhone Pro models (since they need faster file transfer for the huge 4K ProRes video files anyway, and they were happy to adopt USB-C on the iPad "Pro" models early) and drop the ports completely on the non-Pro models.

I wonder if they'll do that with all their "Pro" stuff. Like, would the AirPods be Qi-only or Lightning+Qi-only, with USB-C reserved for AirPods Pro? Or would they go USB-C across the board? Or does Apple imagine a world in which their ideal "Pro" customer, with their iPad Pro, iPhone Pro, MacBook Pro and AirPods Pro, keeps around a Lightning charger for only their earbuds while literally everything else uses USB-C?

IMO, the only clean solution here is to go with USB-C across the board. But I also have no faith that will happen.

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

#594

Post by cromka »

tediousdemise wrote: post #545
bloppe wrote: post #485

A lot of people saying "USB-C cables aren't even compatible with each other!" (Nintendo switch etc.) Guess what: that's exactly the problem this regulation is intended to solve. Fake USB-C cables like Nintendo's that have the right shape but do not adhere to spec should gradually disappear along with lightning cables. The regulation actually says that cables can no longer be bundled with the devices themselves, so Ni…

It's kind of sad to me that Apple doesn't make Lightning an open standard. In all my years, I haven't had a single Lightning connector fail on me. The solid metal where the contacts reside is just too robust to wear out or get damaged (unless you somehow step on it the right way or let it corrode). USB-C connectors, on the other hand, seems to loosen after a rather small number mates and de-mates, leading people to u…

I’ve had two iPhones serviced (replaced) due to lightning port failure. I also had few cables replaced due to them getting the surface on the contact pins literally burned by the micro-fires caused by the high-current and the fibre residue of the fabric.

So, yours is just as anecdotal as mine. Would actually have to see some numbers comparing Lightning vs USB-C failure rate (on some premium Android smartphones), which we are unlikely to.

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

#595

Post by CardenB »

lynguist wrote: post #289
mrtksn wrote: post #123

By the way, that's also how Tesla and all other cars have the same electric plug in EU(not the USB mandate but the car plug standardisation mandate). Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is what happens if better solutions are found. Will EU block innovation? That question is addressed in the Q&A: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_... In essence, they seem to believe that wired char…

Look, we have the headphone jack (6.35mm) stemming from 1877, and its miniature form (3.5mm) from 1960. It’s ok to let USB-C live for another 60-100 years.

This is a flawed comparison because the use cases for the former examples are very limited in comparison to USB C which is arguably evolving rapidly still.

You could imagine if we had formed such a standard around USB A in the 90s and how it might have blocked the already high friction establishment of USB C and thunderbolt 3 standards.

USB C currently seems more mature than USB A, so I can see where things ar ea bit subjective here, but it's not really possible to see where unrestricted development would have put us.

I think I would have been more comfortable with simply banning lightning and micro USB than restricting to only USB C.

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

#596

Post by antisthenes »

leadingthenet wrote: post #506
bloppe wrote: post #485

A lot of people saying "USB-C cables aren't even compatible with each other!" (Nintendo switch etc.) Guess what: that's exactly the problem this regulation is intended to solve. Fake USB-C cables like Nintendo's that have the right shape but do not adhere to spec should gradually disappear along with lightning cables. The regulation actually says that cables can no longer be bundled with the devices themselves, so Ni…

> Let's say the USB consortium releases USB-D with input from Apple, Google, and many other stakeholders [...] If you have to make such an argument, you've already lost. Innovation, particularly disruptive and / or breakthrough innovation, does not happen by committee, no matter how many times over history people tried deluding themselves into thinking that it does. So no, it's not fine.

Proprietary connectors are about as far from innovation as you can possibly get, unless you count patent moats and corporate grift as part of innovating.

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

#597

Post by thorncorona »

microtonal wrote: post #414
mrjin wrote: post #67

Oh well. I just returned 3 USB-C hubs in a row, one almost fried my computer. Since the introduce of USB-C, I have more cables than ever. There are virtually so many types of USB-C cables with different capabilities and all looks almost exactly the same. Some cannot handle charging current of 2A or less. Some might be able to do 3A, some maybe 5A. And some of it is USB 2.0, some are USB 3.x 5Gbps, 10Gbps, 20 Gbps or…

It's simply a random combination of any of the previous stuff. [...] Now I have a whole bunch of them and I cannot tell which can do what except very few long thick ones for my monitors. Get a Thunderbolt 4 cable, they can carry Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, every USB protocol up to and including 4, DP alt-mode, and 100W power delivery. Moreover, most of them are clearly marked. The Apple cables are expensive, but so…

> Since I have switched to quality Thunderbolt Docks, I haven't had any issues.

Do you have a list of quality docks? Or how you determine what a quality dock is?

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

#599

Post by mmis1000 »

johnwalkr wrote: post #551
stewx wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue with the Nintendo Switch is that Nintendo designed their own faulty USB-C charging implementation rather than merely using the reference design. It's not a failure of the spec, it's a failure to adhere to the spec. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16706803

It may not be fully compliant to the spec but it does always charge in my experience. It will charge eventually from most any usb-c charger, including Apple's. But, a docked switch requires 15V and not all chargers will provide it, or maybe they just don't provide it to the off-spec switch. Similar story with the HDMI output of the dock. It took a bit of research to buy a charger and HDMI adapter that work with both…

It's even funnier that. Even your charger have 15v. The dock something failed the handshake and require you to unplug and plug again to trigger the 15v. I think the switch is just not spec compliant. That shouldn't happen on a device that implement the spec properly.

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

#600

Post by binarynate »

binarynate wrote: post #598

As an American, it's strange to see people applaud such overreaching regulation that will stifle innovation. This really underscores and makes me appreciate the differing regulatory philosophies between the EU and the US.

Also reminds me of this Paul Graham tweet:

https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1231699385525903360

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