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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

#801

Post by jonwinstanley »

Moru wrote: post #792
arcticbull wrote: post #708

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple hasn't changed the 'fast-changing' lightning connector since 2012, and USB-A lasted from 1996 to, well, present. USB-C came out in 2014 and is likely going to outlive us both. Connectors simply don't change that fast, and I'm not sure why people think they do. I think even the EU can regulate on that kind of schedule.

The only reason connectors would change fast is to sell another cable and charger every time you buy a phone.

Or to make them slimmer, lighter, improve performance or improve the user experience.

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

#802

Post by crote »

bee_rider wrote: post #588
MichaelZuo wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were no mandates to adopt micro-usb in the EU. As a sidetone it's astonishing how quickly a lie easily disprovable by publicly accessible information, in this case the EU's own website, can be spread around by people that otherwise seem like credible HN members.

Thank goodness, micro-usb kinda sucked, especially compared to USB-C (which seems quite good). It is sort of weird that they decided to mandate USB-C rather than creating an ongoing group to keep track of charging and update the rules accordingly (like in the US, where many of our laws create an agency to regulate something rather than having congress pass a new, slightly different law every couple years)

They did.

The law states that the European Commission shall monitor market development, market fragmentation, and technological progress, and report on it every few years.

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

#803

Post by TheCoreh »

kortilla wrote: post #622
kalleboo wrote: post #479

The EU tried very hard, for very many years to signal to the industry "do this yourself so you don't have to legislate it, we don't want to legislate it, you don't want us to legislate it" but Apple (and only Apple) just refused to listen, so here we are. For micro-USB, they got the industry together in a "memorandum of understanding" to get them to self-implement it without regulation, and it worked great - everyone…

>The EU tried very hard, for very many years to signal to the industry "do this yourself so you don't have to legislate it, we don't want to legislate it, you don't want us to legislate it" but Apple (and only Apple) just refused to listen, so here we are. This doesn’t make the approach any less interventionist. “Either do what we want or we’ll pass an official regulation for you to do what we want” isn’t much of a c…

I don't think Apple believes Lighting is superior. They were heavily involved in the design of USB-C, and that was _after_ Lightning was already in use. They certainly applied learnings from Lightning into it.

I believe the most likely reason they stuck with it this long is contracts with accessory makers. After they switched from 30 pin, there were probably concerns from third parties that they would soon switch again, so to ensure everyone was on board with the transition they probably signed agreements to keep it for a while.

Notice how it's been exactly 10 years since they launched Lightning and now we are getting rumors of next year's iPhone moving to USB-C, before this legislation comes into effect.

Bluetooth Audio and wireless CarPlay are now commonplace, so this is no longer an issue going forward, but wired accessories were a big market in 2012.

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

#804

Post by 9dev »

datavirtue wrote: post #797
wongarsu wrote: post #744

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It gets kind of lost in the summary, but only devices that are rechargeable via a wired cable have to be chargable via USB-C. So going fully wireless is perfectly legal. It's also perfectly legal to offer other charging ports in addition to USB-C, though that's less likely to happen in phones. And while this regulation puts some limitations on innovation in connectors, Thunderbolt shows that there is lots of room to…

Permitting wireless charging without a USB-C option basically topedos the legislation. This whole affair is going to end up as an embarrassing meme.

Well i dunno, it worked tremendously well for USB 2, don’t you think? Might be my age, but I distinctly remember having heaps of different charging cables. Gone, thanks to EU legislation.

Why would it be different this time?

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

#805

Post by jedberg »

What happens when a better standard comes around? Will we be stuck with USB-C for the foreseeable future until they EU changes their laws again?

I am glad that Apple will finally come around, even if by force, but I worry how much this could stifle innovation.

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

#806

Post by jonwinstanley »

chroma wrote: post #790
sbf501 wrote: post #650

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> on a company which operates on free market. You probably shouldn't have based your argument on this statement, which is generally regarded as a myth. It is a myth in the sense that Apple exists in a free market: it is a near monopoly but is savvy enough not to wade into the area other companies did in the 90's and were penalized. Second, governments have the right to enforce environmental protection acts to protect…

How can Apple have a "near monopoly" when Samsung sells 50% more phones than them?

Apple make billions every quarter and at this point no one can realistically unseat them.

They collect pretty much all the profit in the phone market.

They don’t technically have a monopoly, but they are in an incredibly strong position which is close to being guaranteed for the short and medium term.

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

#807

Post by faller_slive »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #6

I hope they ban the 90% of sold usb-c looking cables that aren’t actually usb-c compliant. Someone needs to build a simple device you connect a cable to that stress tests it and shows a green or red light.

They exist but they cost $15,000.

https://www.totalphase.com/products/advanced-cable-tester-v2...

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

#808

Post by mountainriver »

blue_light_man wrote: post #607
TheYumasi wrote: post #555

As an EU citizen, I am really happy with this decision. I am an iPhone user, but having an iPhone is not ubiquitous here, almost all of my friends/special other, use an Android phone with USB-C. Most of their laptops, Mac or not, use or allow USB-C for charging. This as been the case for a few years now, yet, if I go somewhere for more than a full day and forget my lighting cable, my phone will become a useless paper…

This is such a short sighted view. What just happened is, EU, a political organization enforcing the use of a technology on a company which operates on free market. It's Apples best interest to make technology that the consumers want so that they can sell more units of that. A political organization like EU has no say in this. EU citizens already make this decision for themselves by voting with money and choosing to…

Yup this is huge government overreach and the EU increasingly looks hostile to tech companies which produce most of the value in modern economies.

Don’t like the lightning cable? Buy a different phone, it’s really that simple

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

#809

Post by kalleboo »

kortilla wrote: post #622
kalleboo wrote: post #479

The EU tried very hard, for very many years to signal to the industry "do this yourself so you don't have to legislate it, we don't want to legislate it, you don't want us to legislate it" but Apple (and only Apple) just refused to listen, so here we are. For micro-USB, they got the industry together in a "memorandum of understanding" to get them to self-implement it without regulation, and it worked great - everyone…

>The EU tried very hard, for very many years to signal to the industry "do this yourself so you don't have to legislate it, we don't want to legislate it, you don't want us to legislate it" but Apple (and only Apple) just refused to listen, so here we are. This doesn’t make the approach any less interventionist. “Either do what we want or we’ll pass an official regulation for you to do what we want” isn’t much of a c…

My argument was against all the people saying "but this way we're going to be stuck with USB-C until the end of time!". The EU was happy with the market going from micro-USB to USB-C at it's own pace. They didn't want to legislate "use microUSB forever" and they didn't have to.

The EU's preferred way would let the industry continue to innovate freely as long as the market converged on common, open standards. But 30% of the market (=Apple) using a proprietary non-licensable plug was too far away from the idea of market experimentation.

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

#810

Post by [deleted] »

sneak wrote: post #635
kalleboo wrote: post #479

The EU tried very hard, for very many years to signal to the industry "do this yourself so you don't have to legislate it, we don't want to legislate it, you don't want us to legislate it" but Apple (and only Apple) just refused to listen, so here we are. For micro-USB, they got the industry together in a "memorandum of understanding" to get them to self-implement it without regulation, and it worked great - everyone…

> but Apple (and only Apple) just refused to listen, so here we are. Did consumers find this so onerous that they stopped buying iPhones?

[deleted]
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