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Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law

forbes.com

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Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law

#121

Post by fsflover »

lrvick wrote: post #96

As someone that deeply detests Apple and would never give them money, I will admit the lightning connector is superior in durability, inspectability, and safety than USB type C in virtually every way. The real crime here is that Apple insisted on patenting the design and keeping it for only themselves, forcing the rest of the industry to adopt an inferior connector and ultimately force it on them too. Classic Apple.

> I will admit the lightning connector is superior in durability, inspectability, and safety than USB type C in virtually every way

Any links to back that claim?

Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law

#122

Post by mortenjorck »

postalrat wrote: post #110
jonhohle wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone in the Apple ecosystem looking out, I disliked that the 30-pin connector replaced FireWire, but understood it was thinner. That connector then stuck around for around 10 years. Look at nearly every other device manufacturer when the 30-pin connector was being used - Palm, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Sony, etc. all used proprietary connectors that were not only incompatible with each other, but often didn’t work…

Is it even possible to fry a device with the wrong USB c? I thought at worse you get longer charging times or slower data

I think this meme started due to Nintendo (very inadvisedly) adopting a non-standard USB-C implementation for the Switch. It wouldn't have been nearly as bad if they'd used a proprietary connector on top of their modified implementation, but they left the connector unchanged and simply added a "use only official Nintendo chargers" warning which of course no one was going to follow.

This did then, in fact, predictably lead to people frying their Switches, and has only further muddied the waters around the standard (which, to be sure, if you're using chargers and cables from at least minimally reputable manufacturers, will never fry a device under normal circumstances).

Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law

#123

Post by ghaff »

yardie wrote: post #86
danpalmer wrote: post #19

It's sad that it took legislation to make this happen, but I can see why. I worked in a pseudo-Apple-store during the height of the 30-pin dock connector and I sold so many cases, speaker docks, charging cables, and all sorts of weird accessories that were built for the 30-pin connector. Then Apple switched to Lightning. It was better in every. single. way. And yet people got burnt. There was so much hardware that wa…

I stayed in a hotel recently with one of those clock radios with the 30-pin connector on top. It would have been nice to have it use the larger speakers for background music and the alarm. But with over 200 rooms they probably weren't in a rush to replace all those units with Lightning and now USB-C.

My guess is that they might just leave the room without a clock at some point. I’ve stayed in multiple hotels recently with no clock or in-room phone.

Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law

#124

Post by kitsunesoba »

frosted-flakes wrote: post #58
collegeburner wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no you're not. sturdier, clicks in better and doesn't wear down the same way. and im not even a apple fan/user.

You've never had a bad connection with Lightning? Every Lightning cable I've ever had has two pins that have become blackened due to frequent arcing. And the "click" is dependent on the quality of the cable. USB-C cables from Apple click in exactly the same as their Lightning cables, for example.

Been using Lightning models since the iPhone 6 generation and haven't seen this behavior even once. The worst I've seen was a couple of times where the phone's port got pocket lint stuck in it, making it harder to plug in cables which was fixed easily enough with some careful teasing with a SIM ejector tool.

I don't have anything against USB-C but its "click" factor varies a lot between cable/port manufacturers due to much wider tolerances/variances in manufacturing.

Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law

#125

Post by dervjd »

musictubes wrote: post #111
brundolf wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They've switched every other non-iPhone device to USB-C The only device I know of that started out on lighting and switched to USB-C was the iPad, and that was specifically because they're pushing it as a "creator" device, for which people needed to be able to plug in things like flash drives, SD card adaptors, cameras, mice and keyboards, etc. There's significantly less drive for those kinds of accessories on iPho…

The remote for the new AppleTV is also USB C.

I have the latest Apple TV 4K, and it still uses the Lightning connector to charge the remote.

Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law

#126

Post by zimpenfish »

yreg wrote: post #64
nelsonic wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"$43.5B on Lightning cable sales alone" ~ https://medium.com/swlh/the-real-reason-apple-doesnt-want-to...

>Apple sold more than 2.2 billion iPhones and more than 360 million iPads before they stopped making numbers public. >Say for every second iPhone or iPad sold, a user bought just one extra Apple Lightning cable for $19 which probably costs Apple around $1 (if not less) to make. >That’s give or take $43.5B on Lightning cable sales alone. I don't follow, `(2.2B + 360M) / 2 * 18` is not 43.5B.

> a user bought just one extra Apple Lightning cable for $19

I've bought a lot of Lightning cables over the last decade and I'd say that 90%+ of them were under $15.

Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law

#127

Post by djvdq »

lrvick wrote: post #96

As someone that deeply detests Apple and would never give them money, I will admit the lightning connector is superior in durability, inspectability, and safety than USB type C in virtually every way. The real crime here is that Apple insisted on patenting the design and keeping it for only themselves, forcing the rest of the industry to adopt an inferior connector and ultimately force it on them too. Classic Apple.

I was thinking the same about both connectors. And then I bought an iPhone. I never broke a USB-C connector nor socket in few years of heavy usage on few devices, but I needed to buy new lightning cable because the pins have worn out after less than a year of just connecting the cable to iphone.

Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law

#128

Post by password1 »

danpalmer wrote: post #19

It's sad that it took legislation to make this happen, but I can see why. I worked in a pseudo-Apple-store during the height of the 30-pin dock connector and I sold so many cases, speaker docks, charging cables, and all sorts of weird accessories that were built for the 30-pin connector. Then Apple switched to Lightning. It was better in every. single. way. And yet people got burnt. There was so much hardware that wa…

> The expectations of Apple were higher only because of that brand recognition.

I think the expectations were high also because Apple had a really strong marketing push on the concept of "docking" your devices. I remember even cars had dedicated iPhones docks as additional selling points, along with speakers and many other devices. There was a promise that if you bought an iPhone you could dock it everywhere and so there was this big ecosystem of things you could plug it in. Then apple switched to lightning and quietly retired the whole docking thing.

Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law

#129

Post by kitsunesoba »

brundolf wrote: post #15

I'm so excited for this. I was about to buy a new iPhone, but with this news I'm going to wait another year just so I can get USB-C

I actually sprung for a new phone this generation (14) since it was rumored that it would be the last of the Lightning models. Gotta get maximum usage out of all the Lightning stuff laying around the house.
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