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EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024

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Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024

#161

Post by Dalewyn »

bodge5000 wrote: post #51

I'd certainly much rather type-c than lightning or, god forbid, micro usb, but it also has its own issues. Issues that one would hope would be solved by the usb-d, and so on. The problem with this law is that it makes it much more difficult to start using future usb standards. The EU addressed this by saying that they'll keep up with technology as it moves, but one thing that technology is famous for, and the EU is i…

Seeing as the U in USB stands for Universal, there are plenty of incentives besides politics to /not/ change physical designs such as the connections.

USB-C's introduction was (and arguably still is) fairly disruptive because it invalidated the universal nature of USB-A (and to a lesser extent -B and Micro).

Personally, I hope USB-C will be here to stay for at least the better part of a decade going forward. Finding that what was once universal won't be universal tomorrow is annoying.

Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024

#162

Post by simion314 »

roenxi wrote: post #95
capableweb wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there something in this regulation that says it can never be changed to something else in the future? Why do you assume USB-C will remain the standard for all future? Seems likely if something else pops up in 2030 that is way better, there is nothing to suggest a new regulation couldn't be made.

How will they figure out that there is a better standard in the future? Certainly not with a study in the EU. They're going to have to send investigators to more advanced foreign countries to figure out what charger to use.

The industry (Apple) could have played nice and decided to use the best thing and make it standard without being forced by a law, but this would not make them money... if that would have happen then there would not be a need to update the law...

As a EU citizen I benefit each time EU forces big companies like banks, telecoms to do the right thing for the citizens and be just a tiny bit less greedy. I was not on HN when telecoms were regulated to have small roaming charges , or when companies were forced to print clear information on their product labels, or when banks were forced to have some limits on the ATM charges but something tells me americans predicted a big collapse in EU and that we will have no telecoms and banks anymore. But reality shows that for telecoms we have even better prices then US, so for some reason regulations did not collapse this giants.

Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024

#163

Post by Bilal_io »

matthew-wegner wrote: post #120
wisnoskij wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forcing everyone to change cables creates waste. Apple is teh onyl company that might not have already been using USBC by the time this went into effect, and now all their customers that already had lightning cables and accessories will have to throw them out of get adapters. Not to mention that by then we will probably already be talking about USB-D or whatever is coming next. Maybe the USB counsel can just conglome…

Plenty of Apple products already use USB-C. Apple products aside, I'm sure the average household has USB-C cables by now Besides, existing phones are obviously going to stay Lightning. Cables aren't going to be thrown out any earlier than the phones themselves

At this point, I think even the average household in developing countries has USB-C. And that's probably due to entry-level android phone makers choosing to go with it.

Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024

#164

Post by _visgean »

pain2022 wrote: post #127

Forced usb-c charger for laptops is concerning. 1) it is additional attack vector, what if maid in my hotel enhanced my charging brick with rubber ducky? 2) mag safe is very convenient

1. if you are worried about these type of attacks than charger is least of your worries... You should probably turn off thunderbolt support completely...

2. I think mag safe chargers will be allowed to continue. Note that even now you can charge the macbooks with magsafe with usb-c charger..

Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024

#166

Post by dahfizz »

Is this just mandating the physical plug? USB-C has a near infinite number of power delivery and/or data modes. Not to mention thunderbolt, display port, etc which are totally different protocols running on the same physical cable as USB-C.

How will this legislation be maintained? Are Europeans going to be stuck to USB-C in 30 years, when the rest of the world has phones that charge wirelessly in 10 seconds and last for weeks?

Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024

#167

Post by [deleted] »

kypro wrote: post #111
jld89 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A LOT of less waste maybe ? It is very inconvenient and a hassle to have 5 different cables for 5 different devices. It is a waste of space, materials... The economic gains by volume continent wide should not be underestimated.

Less waste after iPhone users all have to throw away their cables and buy new ones, presumably?

[deleted]

Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024

#168

Post by mimsee »

EugeneOZ wrote: post #147
_trackno5 wrote: post #49

Why do people think it is a good thing to have this enforced by law is beyond me. I don't see any win besides a minor convenience. A lightning cable weighs almost nothing and it's not a big deal to have one around. As to lightning port limitations, I question whether usb-c will give average iPhone users any other advantage other than charging their phone. What are people gonna do with it other than charge their phone…

Data transfer speed is an important reason. iPhone 14 Pro can create huge videos and photos, and transferring them using Lightning is too slow.

Did the law mandate USB 3 or just the USB-C connector? You can still have USB-C connector with USB2 data rates.

Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024

#169

Post by ceejayoz »

kypro wrote: post #111
jld89 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A LOT of less waste maybe ? It is very inconvenient and a hassle to have 5 different cables for 5 different devices. It is a waste of space, materials... The economic gains by volume continent wide should not be underestimated.

Less waste after iPhone users all have to throw away their cables and buy new ones, presumably?

It's OK to make decisions with long-term beneficial impacts that may come with short-term negatives. I'd also wager the majority of iPhone users have USB-C cables already.

Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024

#170

Post by vladvasiliu »

Hamcha wrote: post #150
_trackno5 wrote: post #49

Why do people think it is a good thing to have this enforced by law is beyond me. I don't see any win besides a minor convenience. A lightning cable weighs almost nothing and it's not a big deal to have one around. As to lightning port limitations, I question whether usb-c will give average iPhone users any other advantage other than charging their phone. What are people gonna do with it other than charge their phone…

> Why do people think it is a good thing to have this enforced by law is beyond me. It's not, we're glad SOMEONE is forcing them to take this direction, but it's really sad (and potentially damaging) it had to come to this. > As to lightning port limitations, I question whether usb-c will give average iPhone users any other advantage other than charging their phone. What are people gonna do with it other than charge…

Is the USB2 speed a limitation of the Lightning connector, or is it that Apple just doesn't care to improve this?

Because if it's the latter, as you say, there's no guarantee we'll see improved speeds because of the port change.

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