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EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

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341–350 of 868 posts

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#341
post #8

The EU stance and strictness on this is one of the things making me happy to be an EU citizen.

For me it’s the opposite, it ashames me to be an EU citizen. The problem with the EU is that it forces this kind of stuff on everyone instead of letting countries compete for the best policies. There is little/no feedback control hence it will drift down the usual decline of increasingly authoritarian systems. It‘s a shame because of the opportunity costs.

> instead of letting countries compete for the best policies.

The way we have let manufacturers compete to create the best standard for power adaptors?

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#342
post #123

As somebody who last night got an Apple stem out of their daughter's lightning port using a SIM card ejector tool, I'm torn. You can't do that (safely) with USB-C because of the female plug design.

This is one of the strongest pushbacks against USB-C that Apple have: USB-C: You break the stem, you have a useless device and functioning cable Lightning: You break the stem, you have a functioning device and useless cable. One of these is clearly more optimal considering the cost difference between the two. Anecdotally, I have had problems with USB-C ports that I did not have with Micro-USB and (so far) with Lightn…

You forgot the springs. Lighting has the springs in the device, while USB-C has them on the cable. That is why Apple stopped improving Lighting and developed USB-C. The stem can break, but it is far more rare than a tired spring, which is an inevitability.

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the regulation is different now, a custom dongle won't be allowed this time. > What if Apple now comes out with a new standard much better than usb-c for their newest iPhone? Then they go to other manufacturers and say "we have a new, much better idea. we should collaborate on it, so that it's standardised and we can all use it next year". Then they all ship it in Europe and we all have a much better connector.…

Apple will certainly jump at the chance to spend money and time subsidizing its competitors research costs, in return for absolutely no competitive advantage. That's definitely what motivates people in the real world. Reality check: this approach means the rest of the world will have better tech whilst what's sold in the EU remains frozen in time.

Check the companies involved in any standardised connector/protocol currently used. For example USB implementers forum includes HP, NEC, Microsoft, Intel and... Apple. HDMI forum includes... Apple. NVMe contributors includes... Apple. The times of one company doing their own proprietary thing are close to gone.

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#344
post #8

The EU stance and strictness on this is one of the things making me happy to be an EU citizen.

For me it’s the opposite, it ashames me to be an EU citizen. The problem with the EU is that it forces this kind of stuff on everyone instead of letting countries compete for the best policies. There is little/no feedback control hence it will drift down the usual decline of increasingly authoritarian systems. It‘s a shame because of the opportunity costs.

While on the one hand the EU as a collective has more power than member states, it's a stark contrast to the US for example where companies and people move around to states whose laws suit them. I for one am all for apple's hardware, so if California banned lightning port for example I can happily avoid them and they do ban and regulate a lot of things yet they are the richest and most populous state even with people preferring other states for nicer laws. "Everybody gets a place and united we will prosper" should be the motto of any union of states.

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#345

Who cares? I haven’t charged my phone through the port in years.

99% of my charging is overnight with the magnetic wireless charger and I love it. But it's slow. If you need to recharge more quickly, wired is significantly faster.

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m all for some kind of universality, but this authoritarian method does not strike me as a good idea. You lament their concern with fairness, by giving unfair advantages to the USB-C license holders/patent holders? I’m not even sure people understand that Apple also contributed heavily to the development of USB-C along with other companies, some of them European. The irony is that I believe the Lightning Connector,…

I have to ask - Do some people just throw the word "Communist" every time they disagree with something? Is this also a "Socialist" standard? Possibly also "woke"? :-> As for longevity, dunno; Micro-USB was around since 2007 and is still in use. Usb a of course is decades strong. And the European preference of Micro-USB does not seem to have prevented other standards. And of course, 3.5mm connector has been around for…

They're using that word not because they disagree, but because it's an accurate description of what the EU is becoming.

Communist states centrally plan the economy. Everything is specified by government committees down to tiny details like the production levels of individual factories, what they produce, how, and what does or does not get researched.

The EU has developed a penchant for micromanaging the details of private industry to an extraordinary degree. The similarities to communist central planning are clear to see:

1. There is no democracy. The Commission does what it wants. The EU proclaims itself to have a parliament, but the body that uses that name isn't the same as a normal parliament.

2. They love to specify the details of trivial things like exactly how fast kettles operate, the exact way the curvature of bananas are classified, how browsers display cookie UI, and now the way phones plug into chargers.

3. All the above is justified via the usual terms ideologically left wing people like to use such as "fairness", "cooperation" etc.

None of this is a surprise because the EU traces its roots to a document written by communists called the Ventotene Manifesto, and prior Commission presidents have even celebrated Marx.

https://www.euronews.com/2018/05/04/juncker-opens-exhibition...

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#349

I don't understand why USB-C doesn't use the Lightning form factor, which is clearly superior. It's smaller, simpler and more resistant to damage.

> more resistant to damage

In what way? Every single lighting cable I've had since the switch was done years ago is unusable after a few months. The same pin, 4th from the left, wears out after a very short time. This has happened across owning multiple phones and iPads. I've lost count of the number of cables I've bought from either Apple or a 3rd party.

I see the exact same damage on other people's cables frequently. I'm honestly surprised there hasn't been a class action lawsuit against Apple about this.

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if the whole world adopted this kind of regulatory stance, there would be much less incentive to invent that better cable because you now have huge regulatory bodies Imagine you didnt have law on shape and voltage of ordinsry power plugs in a house, and if you buy a samsung power socket to ibstall in your house, you mist buy samsung fridge and samsung washing machine and samsung hair dryer

That brings up an interesting question: “Is NEMA 5-15 in fact standardized by force of law?”

Yes, via building/construction codes.
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