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

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

#331

Post by drcongo »

djvdq wrote: post #127
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.

I had one of those dreadful MacBook Pros where the keyboard keys would get stuck, and all the USB-C ports on that were almost useless inside a month - they all just got incredibly loose and cables would just fall out.

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

#332

Post by lrvick »

fsflover wrote: post #121
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?

The pins are on the outside making it easy to visually inspect for damage, or obstruction. With USB C a bit of conductive debris can be in the hollow cavity in the connector and cook your hardware. Or bend pins. Watched it happen.

Also if you work in high security environments where badusb attacks are a risk, lightning makes it is even easy to inspect data delivery pins are intentionally missing before you plug in a cable to an airgapped machine.

With USB C you have to custom make complicated usb m-to-f condom devices with transparent enclosures so you can visibly inspect the PCB traces. I have worked in high security environments where these were a must.

Further lightning is simply a solid metal connector and more structurally sound. It is hard to bend pins or cause a short. I have distributed a lot of usb-c devices and watched people hand them back to me with snapped or crushed connectors many times.

I hate that Lightning was made by Apple instead of the USB standards boards.

USB Type C is a terrible connector. I literally use laptops with barrel jack power to avoid it.

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

#333

Post by scarface74 »

rootusrootus wrote: post #255
sdfhbdf wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In short there is no way of knowing by looking at a USB-C cable or socket what it supports because there is a myriad of standards all using the same connector - USB Power Delivery, USB 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 4.0, Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort over USB You have to usually measure to know what does the cable support and what speeds and or voltages are possible.

Not only that, but it is not possible to make a do-everything USB-C cable.

Zeus-X Pro 5ft/1.5m Universal... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093YVRHMB?

- USB A and USB C on one end

- micro USB A, Lightning and USB C on the other end

- 100W charging

- 10Gbps transfer

- supports video over USB C

These have replaced all of my Lightning cables and most of my USB C cables.

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

#334

Post by tzs »

alistairSH wrote: post #73
robertoandred wrote: post #36

What a pain, forcing everyone to buy new cables.

Unlikely. How many people in the EU don't also own USB-C devices already? I don't really care which port Apple uses, but I'd like them to be consistent across the range. It's annoying carrying Lightning cables (phones) + USB-C cables (iPads and laptops) + USB-micro (camera chargers) when I travel.

> It's annoying carrying Lightning cables (phones) + USB-C cables (iPads and laptops) + USB-micro (camera chargers) when I travel.

This might help: Anker Powerline II 3-in-1 Cable, Lightning/Type C/Micro USB Cable

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071WNQYV6

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

#335

Post by simion314 »

paulmd wrote: post #248
simion314 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

like HDMI doesn't have DRM, or onerous licensing controlled by a singular, for-profit entity? oh right "Apple bad, barely even a standard!!!" Sorry if it sounds frustrated but this just isn't a very interesting tangent, either you or the throwaway coward. It's still a standard even if you don't like the licensing terms or the feature set/implementation/etc. Stop being pedantic, it's not interesting, it's not even tec…

Closed "standards" are bad, but in this case even if it were an open standard the industry was forced to chose one of them so every device can use same cables and peripherals. It is not EU fault that the industry except Apple chose USB and is not EU fault that Apple decided to use USB in US.

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

#336

Post by scarface74 »

brundolf wrote: post #107
dagmx wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something I found interesting when discussing this with my wife.. All my friends are tech heads and champing at the bit to have usb-c in their iPhones. But when she asked me why people were mad about the switch to usb-c it took me by surprise. Then she showed me a lot of online responses from non technical people who see the change of port as annoying and wasteful because now all their stuff won’t work without adapte…

But even those non-tech people should have some USB-C cables lying around at this point Android phones have used USB-C cables for many years. The Nintendo switch and PS5 controllers use USB-C cables. Chromebooks use USB-C cables. The alarm clock I just bought uses a USB-C cable. My keyboard uses a USB-C cable. Every MacBook made in the last five years (and most iPads sold in the last couple years) uses a USB-C cable.…

And what are the chances that those Android phones with USB C actually support high speed data or video over USB C?

And those USB C MacBook cables definitely don’t support data transfers. The newest ones come with MagSafe

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

#337

Post by stefan_ »

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.

It's also forever limited to USB2 speeds, state of the art year 2000, and can't do half the things that USB-C does. Of course that's easier to make, but don't worry, the patents notwithstanding, nobody wanted it anyway.

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

#338

Post by hot_gril »

adam_arthur wrote: post #304
hot_gril wrote: post #232

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.

Not true at all. If USB-C hits hard limitations, vendors will come together to create a new spec. The EU law has provisions to reassess the standard every few years. There are already many specs such as web standards that are critical to society and collaborated on by many vendors.

It took the industry years to get their act together and leave micro-USB behind, and that was without the replacement being illegal. Maybe Lightning even gave them a reason to look for something better. With other standards, there's at least competition, and adopting a better one can be a selling point.

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

#339

Post by scarface74 »

hot_gril wrote: post #288
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…

You're skipping how Apple made Lightning a closed standard and charged big royalties for it. I can reasonably point to that licensing as the reason a legitimate Lightning to USB cable costs at least $15 instead of $1.50, cause the latter is how much a good knockoff costs.

And yet I can find one just as good on Amazon for $5.

No I also don’t worry about buying gold plated HDMI cables.

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

#340

Post by Dylan16807 »

dwaite wrote: post #306
iso1631 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 thos…

The good news is that all functional USB-C cables will generally charge at 30W. They might not be able to go above 30W, they might only have USB 2.0 speeds. The USB-IF has only just now come up with IMHO their first passable attempt at labelling. However, for a couch or car charger for a phone, just about any cable that is wired correctly should do everything you want. The problems come with alt modes and fast chargi…

All functional USB-C cables will charge at 60W.
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