Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

EU Gives Final Approval to Law That Will Force iPhone to Switch to USB-C

macrumors.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 94 posts

Re: EU Gives Final Approval to Law That Will Force iPhone to Switch to USB-C

#71

Post by kaba0 »

snehk wrote: post #69
midoridensha wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>they just require industry to set aside pettiness and work out a solution.\ The problem isn't "the industry" being petty, it's Apple, and Apple alone. Everyone else got over their idiotic pettiness and attempts at proprietary connectors many, many years ago and jumped on the USB bandwagon.

To be fair, they all tried their own crappy adapters that were the same as everything else but simply incompatible due to the design of the thing. Apple's lightning connector was simply better than what others offered. They had a data connector that worked upside down. They solved an annoyance users had, which is why the thing was so popular. It then took other cell phone manufacturers three years to implement that.

Apple also is part of that group and also accepted USB-C. It’s not like their ipads for several years now wouldn’t be using it.

Re: EU Gives Final Approval to Law That Will Force iPhone to Switch to USB-C

#72

Post by kaba0 »

olliej wrote: post #35
EMIRELADERO wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This law does not carve the USB-C into stone. There is a review mechanism and a mechanism for monitoring the market and approving another port in the future when it's time to do so. This is done through the USB Implementers Forum. All this law really, truly does is force manufacturers to sit around a table and work out a single solution for the whole electronics market. EU doesn't really care about USB-C or USB-D or…

How does that work though? No one can put a new device on the market without first getting approval from the USB-IF. It means that companies for which the only thing that matters is the fractions of a cent they can save on the production have much more control over the entire industry. It also means that no one can put a product out that requires _anything_ beyond what the current connector can do, because step 1 is…

It is only about form factor and the power part, nothing is mandated of data pins.

It’s not like the (mostly) unified electric plug has been keeping us from innovation, let’s be realistic here, electricity flowing through a cable won’t change any time soon as the basis for most of our infrastructure, even from a simple physical point of view. Also, wireless charging is not affected, but that will always be less efficient, at least in the foreseeable future.

Re: EU Gives Final Approval to Law That Will Force iPhone to Switch to USB-C

#73

Post by [deleted] »

midoridensha wrote: post #57
EMIRELADERO wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This law does not carve the USB-C into stone. There is a review mechanism and a mechanism for monitoring the market and approving another port in the future when it's time to do so. This is done through the USB Implementers Forum. All this law really, truly does is force manufacturers to sit around a table and work out a single solution for the whole electronics market. EU doesn't really care about USB-C or USB-D or…

>they just require industry to set aside pettiness and work out a solution.\ The problem isn't "the industry" being petty, it's Apple, and Apple alone. Everyone else got over their idiotic pettiness and attempts at proprietary connectors many, many years ago and jumped on the USB bandwagon.

[deleted]

Re: EU Gives Final Approval to Law That Will Force iPhone to Switch to USB-C

#74

Post by robin_reala »

midoridensha wrote: post #57
EMIRELADERO wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This law does not carve the USB-C into stone. There is a review mechanism and a mechanism for monitoring the market and approving another port in the future when it's time to do so. This is done through the USB Implementers Forum. All this law really, truly does is force manufacturers to sit around a table and work out a single solution for the whole electronics market. EU doesn't really care about USB-C or USB-D or…

>they just require industry to set aside pettiness and work out a solution.\ The problem isn't "the industry" being petty, it's Apple, and Apple alone. Everyone else got over their idiotic pettiness and attempts at proprietary connectors many, many years ago and jumped on the USB bandwagon.

In the phone world, yes, but this legislation doesn’t apply to just phones. The ruling[1] says:

The interoperability between radio equipment and accessories such as chargers is hampered as there are different charging interfaces for certain categories or classes of radio equipment that use wired charging such as handheld mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones or headsets, handheld videogame consoles, portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems, earbuds and laptops.

It basically applies to anything that is portable (but not so small that it can’t fit a USB-C socket), battery powered, and has some sort of radio in it. For example, this is presumably why the new Kindle now has USB-C.[2]

[1] https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10713-2022-...

[2] https://www.theverge.com/23409106/amazon-kindle-2022-e-reade...

Re: EU Gives Final Approval to Law That Will Force iPhone to Switch to USB-C

#75

Post by kaba0 »

sneak wrote: post #5

I think Apple’s response will be to go port-free, like the Apple Watch. The eSIM move was one of the last steps.

Why do people assume apple is against this change like some grumpy old man? They literally have almost every other device they manufacture use usb-c for years.

Re: EU Gives Final Approval to Law That Will Force iPhone to Switch to USB-C

#76

Post by roenxi »

It is quite stunning to me that there is such enthusiasm for EU bureaucrats to be making design phones on behalf of Apple. And on top of that, not in any of the interesting areas of the phone but in the charging standard.

This type of thinking is why the EU got taken out of the phone manufacturing scene back in 2007. We want and need companies that try to, dare I say, Think Differently than their competition. It is foolish and hindsight is probably going to make the EU look really bad. Their policies have a track record of near total failure in the phone electronics space. They couldn't even keep ARM CPUs in the EU. Their industry leaders failed to lead this industry. They should let more competent companies lead, not force their way in to the design process via law.

Re: EU Gives Final Approval to Law That Will Force iPhone to Switch to USB-C

#77

Post by Doxin »

roenxi wrote: post #76

It is quite stunning to me that there is such enthusiasm for EU bureaucrats to be making design phones on behalf of Apple. And on top of that, not in any of the interesting areas of the phone but in the charging standard. This type of thinking is why the EU got taken out of the phone manufacturing scene back in 2007. We want and need companies that try to, dare I say, Think Differently than their competition. It is f…

So what actually happened here is a long time ago, every model of phone had its own proprietary charger. This obviously produces a lot of E-waste. The EU stepped in and warned manufacturers to pick a standard or they would. Basically every brand standardized on micro-usb, and later on USB-C. Every big brand except apple. The EU is now simply making good on their threat.

Everyone is playing ball except apple. They aren't special. They aren't unique. They have to play by the rules like anyone else.

Re: EU Gives Final Approval to Law That Will Force iPhone to Switch to USB-C

#78

Post by roenxi »

Doxin wrote: post #77
roenxi wrote: post #76

It is quite stunning to me that there is such enthusiasm for EU bureaucrats to be making design phones on behalf of Apple. And on top of that, not in any of the interesting areas of the phone but in the charging standard. This type of thinking is why the EU got taken out of the phone manufacturing scene back in 2007. We want and need companies that try to, dare I say, Think Differently than their competition. It is f…

So what actually happened here is a long time ago, every model of phone had its own proprietary charger. This obviously produces a lot of E-waste. The EU stepped in and warned manufacturers to pick a standard or they would. Basically every brand standardized on micro-usb, and later on USB-C. Every big brand except apple . The EU is now simply making good on their threat. Everyone is playing ball except apple. They ar…

> Everyone is playing ball except apple. They aren't special. They aren't unique. They have to play by the rules like anyone else.

Legislating this way means that the EU won't produce any companies that are special. They won't produce companies that are unique. They will play by the rules and get crushed by the Asians and Americans, who will take turns passing the baton of success between the two continents.

And I look forward to coming back in a few years to see what impact this has on e-waste. I bet no detectable change. People will still throw out the same number of chargers as ever.

Re: EU Gives Final Approval to Law That Will Force iPhone to Switch to USB-C

#79

Post by raspyberr »

roenxi wrote: post #78
Doxin wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what actually happened here is a long time ago, every model of phone had its own proprietary charger. This obviously produces a lot of E-waste. The EU stepped in and warned manufacturers to pick a standard or they would. Basically every brand standardized on micro-usb, and later on USB-C. Every big brand except apple . The EU is now simply making good on their threat. Everyone is playing ball except apple. They ar…

> Everyone is playing ball except apple. They aren't special. They aren't unique. They have to play by the rules like anyone else. Legislating this way means that the EU won't produce any companies that are special. They won't produce companies that are unique. They will play by the rules and get crushed by the Asians and Americans, who will take turns passing the baton of success between the two continents. And I lo…

>Legislating this way means that the EU won't produce any companies that are special

That's a pretty big leap from use USB-C like everyone else. Are you saying that now that Apple has to use USB-C there is no more innovation let for them to do? Were people really buying their products just because of thunderbolt?

Post reply on HN