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

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

forbes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 482 posts

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

#231

Post by woah »

scelerat wrote: post #205
rootusrootus wrote: post #51

Earlier 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…

> Nothing can fix the stupidity of USB-C cables, though What is the stupidity of USB-C cables? Honestly don't know, simply not up on USB or cable technology

There’s an oft-repeated complaint that they are too versatile

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

#232

Post by hot_gril »

This effectively decides that USB-C is the final iteration of phone connectors. Nobody is going to invest in making a new one. Maybe there wasn't much room left for innovation anyway; Apple has been showing for a while that they prefer the lock-in.

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

#234

Post by simion314 »

paulmd wrote: post #92
WaxProlix wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The contrast between "force Apple to stop adhering to legacy standards, USB-C is the future!!!" and "gubmint hands off muh 8-pin aux connectors!!!" is interesting. Both of these are the same stance to me, "existing industry standards appear to suffice, why foist something different on the market?" I don't think governments are behind a lot of these changes so that last bit is probably exaggeration but seems misplac…

> existing industry standards appear to suffice reminder: lightning came first , because the industry couldn't get its shit together and agree on a successor to micro-b, despite acknowledgement of the shortcomings. lightning is the pcie 8-pin in this comparison: you may not like the technical limitations it imposes, but, it works well enough that you can build products around it. So why impose a change to The Current…

> legally outlaw the Apple standard.

Apple "standards" are DRM proprietary stuff, I would not dare to call it a standard.

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

#235

Post by gnicholas »

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.

I have yet to find a hotel that has upgraded their lamp-mounted or bedside USB ports. This is super annoying because I typically travel with a MagSafe charger for my MBA and a USB-C to Lightning cable to charge my iPhone. I would plug in my phone next to the bed if I could, but typically end up just leaving it with my computer to charge there.

Has anyone seen a USB-C port in a hotel? I've seen that some car manufacturers are including them (sometimes in lieu of USB-A; sometimes in addition to it).

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

#236

Post by shuntress »

samatman wrote: post #173
somerandomqaguy wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe? The USB specifications calls for USB Micro-B to have the same 10,000 connect/disconnect cycles as USB-C: ----------------------------------- Table 3-1 USB Electrical, Mechanical and Environmental Compliance Standards Performance Requirement 1500 cycles 5000 cycles for Mini “B” 10,000 cycles for Micro series 10,000 cycles for ruggedized Standard “A” Cycle rate of 500 cycles per hour if done automatically and 20…

The main thing USB-C and Lightning have going for them, which Micro-B doesn't, is the redundancy of two connection pads. I've had more than one female Lightning port start to get tetchy about which direction a cable goes in. All I'll miss from Lightning is being able to clean the port with a toothpick. Then again, that's not a small thing. When I hear/feel a bit of grit in a USB-C port I get a sinking feeling, with L…

Snap a toothpick in half roughly and you should get a sliver on the broken end that fits around the USB-C tongue very well for cleaning lint.

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

#238

Post by seanmcdirmid »

BackBlast wrote: post #151
djvdq wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I wore out the USB-C connector on my android phone in about a year and a half of daily charging, so probably lasted less than 500 cycles. I had to resort to wireless charging to keep the phone functioning. This is my first long-lifed usb-c connector and so far it doesn't impress for durability. My wife has used apple for years, while she does need new cables from time to time the phone side has never had an issue.

I've been using MagSafe (the Qi wireless kind, not the one for macs) for most of my iPhone charging. I guess this is why I don't wear the cables out. I've added a magnetic adapter connector to my oculus USB-C setup, and that seems to work well also.

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

#239

Post by hot_gril »

nvahalik wrote: post #219

> Joswiak also claimed that the proprietary Lightning cable and the USB-C cable would not exist if Apple had agreed to the EU original demand of using the older Micro USB charging cable which had poor reliability and could easily be damaged. So... what happens when USB-C no longer makes sense anymore? Will they have to keep using it no matter what? Wait for the law to change?

USB-C will make sense forever now. Nobody will develop something else. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it is what it is.

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

#240

Post by paulmd »

throwaway434814 wrote: post #227
paulmd wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lightning was never a standard. Yes, it is. DisplayPort is a standard too. So is HDMI. They're not USB-IF standards, but they're a standard. And there can exist more than one organization promulgating standards in an area, sometimes even (gasp!) private, closed, for-profit ones (like HDMI). Like HDMI is so closed and proprietary you can't even implement HDMI 2.1 on linux lol, it's still a standard . If you want to…

"A de facto standard is a custom or convention that has achieved a dominant position by public acceptance or market forces" I think we were using the word standard to mean something different here, I apologize. Going back to your argument, the reasons I typically see push for USB-C connectors are generally not technical and more about USB-C being _the_ standard connector and cutting down on e-waste.

No post body was provided.
Post reply on HN