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

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

#81
post #78
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…

You’d have to explain why lightning is innovative on apple phones while usbC is innovative on their laptops.

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

#82
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

https://www.mobilecellphonerepairing.com/top-10-most-popular...

Just saying, Samsung isn't a Swiss name. Nor are any of the others on that list down to Sony. Maybe Europe has a contender in the also-ran category that makes up number 10?

We have a continent of people who don't know how to design a good phone, pretending that their bureaucrats can make better decisions than arguably the best phone design company in the world. Certainly the best over the 21st century. I don't think that this piece of regulation is that important, big picture - but it is hilarious that on HN this is one of the topics that gets the most unanimous support for the EU. I honestly can't think why, this is the an area where they have demonstrably failed to an outrageous degree.

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

#83
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

You’d have to explain why lightning is innovative on apple phones while usbC is innovative on their laptops.

When you choose your breakfast, do you stop by an EU office to justify why your porridge is more nutritious than an egg on toast? The EU has no reason to be involved in this sort of trivia.

There is a literal land war in Europe as we speak. Threats of nuclear war fly. There is an ongoing energy crisis. We just came out of a global pandemic, people were being locked down left, right, centre and a lot of deaths because they failed to prepare like the Asians did for the last decade.

And through all this the EU has found time to decide that some committee needs to tell Apple how to design iPhones. This is the stuff of parody! Let Apple design iPhones, and the EU should maybe concentrate on securing peace in Europe. Get their own act together securing peace and freedom before trying to tell a rather successful phone company how to design phones.

What were their politicians doing? diplomats doing? Their engineers? Their doctors and scientists? Hopefully not backseat redesigning iPhones.

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

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For charging, the spec is tiny. Have you ever looked at the horror that is USB-PD? The reason you've never seen v1 devices in the real world is because the spec was impossible to implement so they had to fix it in a v2.

I'm aware it vastly changed between 1 and 2, but I'm talking about using the current version, the fixed one. "Tiny" probably isn't the best word but it's straightforward enough. It can be put into tiny chips.

If "written in a way that sort of make sense if all you can do is turn XML into Java code and is absolutely horrible to actually implement", then yes its straightforward.

Compare with PCIe, which is actually sane.

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

#85
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

You’d have to explain why lightning is innovative on apple phones while usbC is innovative on their laptops.

There is an actual innovation here: Magsafe.

A bunch of vendors spent a decade or two shipping charger cables that weren't noticeably innovative, one still does that. The one that still does is also the one that invented Magsafe and doesn't ship that for phones.

One should be careful about drawing conclusions from a handful of examples, or even just one example. I feel safe in saying that even though Apple was legally permitted to use magsafe for phones, that didn't lead to the company doing it.

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

#86
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.

I don’t really know why people think this. Wireless is a mostly bad way to charge phones with a couple of good applications (phone mounts in cars, and bedside docks). They’re less energy efficient, they’re bad for the battery, they’re slower, they are less portable, some are noisy (either fans or coil rattle). It would make many cars with wired only CarPlay obsolete, which would be wildly unpopular. Apple couldn’t ge…

> I don’t see a world where iPhones transition to wireless charging any time soon.

This has already happened. The AirPower thing was for a dynamic charging mat that would do multiple devices. All modern iPhones do Qi charging and most of those support a special magnetically-aligned Apple magsafe system for higher power charging.

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

#87

Speaking of one charging port being different to everyone else? Does anyone know why, in the UK, shaving sockets are 2 pronged whilst every other socket in a house is 3 pronged?

I think it's because you're only meant to plug shavers there, which are designed to work in humid environments.

Other equipments should not be plugged into those sockets, so the physical design prevents it.

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

#88
Yawn. Apple retired the 30 pin connector 10 years ago to much user griping. Apple said then they'd keep the new connector for 10 years. Guess what? It's 10 years later.

Meanwhile, Apple has been employing USB-C in more and more of their devices. It's not like they've been avoiding it. All the EU has done is ensured Apple won't keep the Lightning connector longer than the 10 years Apple promised.

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

#89

Speaking of one charging port being different to everyone else? Does anyone know why, in the UK, shaving sockets are 2 pronged whilst every other socket in a house is 3 pronged?

I think it's because you're only meant to plug shavers there, which are designed to work in humid environments. Other equipments should not be plugged into those sockets, so the physical design prevents it.

It has less to do with humid environments and more to do with grounding in general. You can find 3-pin outlets in most bathrooms in Europe, they're typically used for hair dryers and washing machines.

If equipment is designed with sufficient insulation that prevents users from coming in contact with the mains voltage in cause of malfunction, 2 pins are generally enough. Otherwise any electrically conductive parts need to have a connection to ground through the 3rd pin to prevent risk of electric shock.

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