And I guess that means we won't get any more cable interface innovation for a while. Are we really that certain that micro USB -- I mean, USB-C -- is the format to standardize on for the foreseeable future?
Yes
Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law
181–190 of 482 posts
Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law
#182I suspect it is harder to waterproof a usb-c jack.
Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law
#183As 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.
That's extremely unusual -- I've used Lightning cables daily for years without any issue at all.
Whenever I would notice a cable not working (after about a year and a half), the culprit was always dust buildup inside the Lightning port preventing the plug from entering fully. Clean it out with a toothpick for 15 seconds, and then good as new.
If you were using an original Apple cable, that's bizarrely bad luck. I can't even imagine what could physically cause that.
Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm more cynical in my interpretation of Apple's motives: I think they just wanted those licensing dollars They've switched every other non-iPhone device to USB-C. The more plausible interpretation would be that they don't want to piss off a core constituency of customers who've built up 10 years of Lightning cables. The number of people who care about standardizing on USB-C are definitely less than the vocal folks…
> ”The number of people who care about standardizing on USB-C are definitely less than the vocal folks who will now complain loudly that Apple just forced them to buy a whole bunch of expensive new cables.” I don’t think that’s true. Even hard core iPhone users likely already have multiple USB-C devices and cables, and the existing chargers are already USB (A or C) and will continue to work just fine. Apple does stil…
We have 2 recentish iphones and an old c. 2016 ipad, but we have at least 10 lightning connections around the house, car, etc to plug into.
We obviously aren't going to replace all 3 devices at the same time, so it means that the first device we replace will suffer from not having the places to plug in that we currently can (sofa, kitchen, bedroom, car, office, bag, etc), or we have to get more power supplies in those areas, and over time we'll have to get another 10 cables to replace them (and usb-c cables are a total mess)
We'll adjust of course -- we were burnt when they dropped the dock connector meaning we couldn't use two of our radios any more, but we didn't make that mistake again
Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law
#185I'm generally not a fan of the EU mandating technical decisions, but for me personally, Lightning connections have always been really low quality. Since my iPhone was about a year old, it often won't recognize a new Lightning cable that's plugged in, I have to unplug and re-plug it several times. Or it will charge for a minute and then suddenly think it's disconnected. Or you will bump it slightly and it thinks it's now disconnected. I have never had such trouble with USB-A, micro-USB, USB-C, or even the old 30-pin connectors.
It's especially annoying when I'm in my car, which unfortunately only supports a wired CarPlay connection. Sometimes I'll go over a bump, it'll disconnect my phone, and I have to mess with it while driving in order to get the directions going again.
Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law
#186It's especially ironic that Apple had to be forced to use usb-c since they were the first to adopt Thunderbolt and they use usb-c/thunderbolt in all their laptops and newer iPads. Seems they held on to Lightning connectors simply to sell more cables (or maybe spite).
I don't think it's either of the reasons you stated. I think it's more about how many accessories are out there using Lightning that will be obsoleted by the switch. It's like the Dock to Lightning switch, but on a much larger scale simply because there are far more iPhones with Lightning (and therefore accessories) than there were with the Dock connector.
Create the disease so you can profit from the medicine
Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law
#187Reminder, lightning is still usb 2.0 which is a joke with these 4k videos and tons of photos. Apple could still put USB C on there with 2.0 speeds, like Samsung did as recently as the Flip 3...
But this is not a Lightning problem. It is the controller that only supports USB2. First iPad Pro for instance was Lightning and had USB3 transfer speeds.
A single camera adapter had USB3, everything else on that device is USB 2.0.
Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law
#188I must be the only person on HN who thinks the lightening port is better than USB-C.
I can't really bring myself to care about any small differences when my girlfriend can charge her (Android) phone at her desk using her MacBook charger, and I can't do the same with my iPhone
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Re: Apple says iPhones will switch to USB-C chargers to comply with new EU law
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s not Apple that you have to worry about not supporting the full spec - they already do with USB C iPads. It’s the Android manufacturers and your local convenience store. Meaning it is still “contributing to ewaste” when you can’t use your old USB C cords to get all of the functionality that is part of the USB C spec. This is yet another example of EU regulators not thinking through their proposals — see also the…
> see also the GDPR whose only consequence is a bunch of cookie pop ups. well that's just wrong.
So exactly what did it accomplish? Did it affect Facebook or Google at all or any adTech company?
When ATT was implemented by Apple, many ad tech companies announced it impacted them. You didn’t hear a whisper after the GDPR. Websites just started putting up annoying cookie banners and life continued.