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Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

bbc.com

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Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#131

Post by johnnycab »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #109
gerdesj wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have lived with both the UK and the "Euro" "standardish" 2 pin with earth on the outside plug for my formative years. I'm a UK army brat. I'll take the UK plug any day. It is bigger by far in two unimportant dimensions but thinner by far in the important one. The chord runs downwards on all UK plugs not at 90 degrees to the wall by default but I will accept that many Euro plugs also run downwards. A UK plug is a bi…

Yes, the only downside is when you stand on it.

On the upside, you can open a beer bottle with it.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#132

Post by danaris »

jedberg wrote: post #81
danaris wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Neat, I hadn't heard about that. I will have to look it up. I wonder if my car supports it.

I think only BMWs support it right now.

Well, that lets me out, for sure. Ah, well.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#133

Post by unlinked_dll »

kovacs_x wrote: post #124
GhostVII wrote: post #71

I can't believe this legislation is actually being seriously considered, why would you want the government forcing you to have a certain port on your phone. By all means have regulations for things like electrical outlets and radio frequencies and other protocols that interfere with each other, but when it comes to individual devices it is just going to completely stall any innovation. I don't want a manufacturer to…

why do you think it's a bad idea that all small appliances with power requirements What is you benefit as a consumer to have each appliance have it's own unique cable, generally providing same functionality?

Cheaper and/or better products in the future that can't use USB C to deliver the same product at that price/performance.

For example say I have a small Oh no, I can't do that because the government says I can't.

Like OP said if it bothers you don't buy it. That's the market working for you. Diversity is good for the market and connectors aren't one size fits all, no regulation will change that.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#134

Post by GhostVII »

kovacs_x wrote: post #124
GhostVII wrote: post #71

I can't believe this legislation is actually being seriously considered, why would you want the government forcing you to have a certain port on your phone. By all means have regulations for things like electrical outlets and radio frequencies and other protocols that interfere with each other, but when it comes to individual devices it is just going to completely stall any innovation. I don't want a manufacturer to…

why do you think it's a bad idea that all small appliances with power requirements What is you benefit as a consumer to have each appliance have it's own unique cable, generally providing same functionality?

I don't think that is a bad idea, I think that is a great idea in most cases. I think it is a bad idea to legally enforce it and make companies go through the government when they want to introduce an improved type of connector. In the short term it is likely better for consumers, in the long term I think it will lead to us being stuck on USB-C indefinitely, as no one is incentivized to come up with something better.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#135

Post by wvenable »

ace32229 wrote: post #126
wvenable wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what if they can't agree? Maybe apple make a device so thin that even USB-C won't fit and other manufacturers explicitly decide to hobble them by not supporting a thinner connector. This law would be great for anti-competitive practices. Lowest common denominator wins by default.

The iPad with a USB-C port is less than 6mm thick. How thin do you think tablets can actually go?

At one point I thought 6mm was impossible.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#136

Post by pwinnski »

kd913 wrote: post #73
bjtitus wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it pointless? The article talks about trying to cut down on electronic waste: > The regulator is determined to cut down on electronic waste being created by obsolete cables, which it estimates generate more than 51,000 tonnes of waste per year. It's surely much less wasteful to extend the life of the cable standard than to ensure longer cable lifespans. Even if you had a cable that lasted 7 years, chances are…

It's pointless because , the chance of a cable lasting 7 years doesn't happen. Even the phone isn't typically designed to last that long. The cases where people end up replacing their cable because of a new standard is way less frequent than the cable breaking, this has been my experience at least considering the shifting standards which you talk about. It sounds a bit like optimizing some process but ignoring what i…

> the chance of a cable lasting 7 years doesn't happen

What do you do to your cables? I have a 30-pin iPad-charging cables that is from 2011, and it's working fine. Coming up on nine years.

I still regularly use a lightning cable (and charger brick) from 2013, just a year after lightning was introduced, and that's coming up on 7 years.

Your anecdotal evidence is that cables break before becoming obsolete. My anecdotal evidence is the opposite. I have a box full of USB-notC cables in a closet for devices I rarely use, or that are no longer usable, all the while I charge my iPad with a now-obsolete 30-pin cable.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#137

Post by pwinnski »

NicoJuicy wrote: post #111
christophilus wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iPhone users don’t switch to Android in enough scale for that to be a factor.

Indeed, because there aren't enough iPhone users to begin with. 87% vs 13%

If there aren't enough iPhone users to worry about, then why force us to replace all of our cables, chargers, docks, etc?

You can't have it both ways!

One year ago, there were 1.4 billion[0] of us, each with one or more (many more, in my case) cables, docks, cradles, etc. That's a lot of waste to churn up for "not enough iPhone users."

[0] https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/29/18202736/apple-devices-io...

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#138

Post by pwinnski »

kovacs_x wrote: post #124
GhostVII wrote: post #71

I can't believe this legislation is actually being seriously considered, why would you want the government forcing you to have a certain port on your phone. By all means have regulations for things like electrical outlets and radio frequencies and other protocols that interfere with each other, but when it comes to individual devices it is just going to completely stall any innovation. I don't want a manufacturer to…

why do you think it's a bad idea that all small appliances with power requirements What is you benefit as a consumer to have each appliance have it's own unique cable, generally providing same functionality?

I think it's a bad idea because if this legislation had been in place in, say, 2001, we'd all be stuck with terrible USB-mini connectors, not even terrible USB-micro connectors. If 2007, we'd be stuck with terrible USB-micro connectors instead. Now, post-2014, USB-C seems like a winner (too bad they didn't do this in 2012, when it could have been Lightning with a forced-free license!).

So now it's USB-C, and... that's it? Forever? No point in innovation in the cable space, because nobody will be allowed to use anything else.

And "all small appliances Hard pass.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#139

Post by DanBC »

unlinked_dll wrote: post #133
kovacs_x wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why do you think it's a bad idea that all small appliances with power requirements What is you benefit as a consumer to have each appliance have it's own unique cable, generally providing same functionality?

Cheaper and/or better products in the future that can't use USB C to deliver the same product at that price/performance. For example say I have a small Oh no, I can't do that because the government says I can't. Like OP said if it bothers you don't buy it. That's the market working for you. Diversity is good for the market and connectors aren't one size fits all, no regulation will change that.

> I'm going to put this gadget in an environment where people might knock the cable out so I'm going to use a different connector with a latching mechanism to prevent the cable from coming loose.

Lockable USB C connectors exist. Why do you think these would be banned?

https://uk.farnell.com/neutrik/nmc-c-hr/usb-c-chassis-with-r...

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#140

Post by pwinnski »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #3

Good. Wireless Qi charging is too slow, and Apple is still being a dongle diva by constantly inventing its own special connectors.

Apple - 2003: 30-pin connector - 2012: Lightning connector

USB - 1998: A/B - 2000: Mini-A/B - 2007: Micro-A/B - (Skipping some that were not used for phones) - 2014: C

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