191–200 of 1001 posts
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How about all the waste when over a billion iPhone users throw out Lightning accessories?
If we stay trapped in a local maximum we can never ever improve our situation because any improvement will realistically come at some cost. Can't replace old diesel trucks with green fuel trucks because the act of replacing them causes some pollution.
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Thank God nobody ever standardized electrical plugs. I'd hate being able to plug my vacuum cleaner and laptop in the same outlet.
There are at least 3 different standards for wall plugs in the Eu.
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A LOT of less waste maybe ? It is very inconvenient and a hassle to have 5 different cables for 5 different devices. It is a waste of space, materials... The economic gains by volume continent wide should not be underestimated.
Less waste after iPhone users all have to throw away their cables and buy new ones, presumably?
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Electronics companies decide what's best for them. Competition in the smart phone market is done, so consumers no longer have a say. These kinds of interoperability standards are great and would love to see more of them internationally.
Consumers still don't have a say. Now instead of companies choosing what hardware & features are best for their product, and you then choosing products based on your preferences, EU regulators are now forcing companies (and therefore you) to use whatever they think is best. I think in the case of USB-C it's not too bad just because USB-C is widely agreed to be a good connector that's already widely adopted, but there…
They have explicitly called out not regulating wireless charging for this reason.
Yours is a valid concern, but it's not grounded in reality.
No mention of sex toys, even though globally I believe that market is already larger than the smartwatch market. Are they covered but not mentioned in the article, or have they been left out?
Forced usb-c charger for laptops is concerning. 1) it is additional attack vector, what if maid in my hotel enhanced my charging brick with rubber ducky? 2) mag safe is very convenient
Why? I use the same Baseus 65-W power brick for two phones and two laptops very, very conveniently. And GAN chargers are a third of the size of traditional power bricks. Also, who cares about magsafe? Only Apple laptops have it. I think the move to USB-C is a smart one, it can even reach 100W. Speeds are insane too.
Compare that with the traditional barrel connector which is usually an easy repair. Most designs have the barrel connector on a cable assembly rather than having the connector soldered to the motherboard.
This legislation would have been stupid at any other time in the history of hardware. It will prove to be stupid now as well. There is no reason to think the USB-C is the peak of technical achievement or even consistently a local optimum design choice. The EU has enough problems right now, they don't need to try and help Apple design iPhones.
There is no reason the EU can't upgrade to a new standard, or the USB consortium can't create a backward compatible upgrade. My USB 1.0 keyboard from long ago still works, BTW. Meanwhile, I have a box full of chargers for all kinds of old stuff. Replacing them all with 1 standard is great. And USB is doing just that, not only for cell phones but for all kinds of gadgets. Even if I only require an USB micro and an USB…
Also consider: USB-D is going to have a much harder time reaching the market penetration it needs to be relevant. It creates a chicken and egg problem. No manufacturer will want to upgrade if they are required to use USB-C, and the EU will never update the legislation if USB-D isn't widely used.
The EU has traded some extra convenience now for severely limited innovation later.
Why do people think it is a good thing to have this enforced by law is beyond me. I don't see any win besides a minor convenience. A lightning cable weighs almost nothing and it's not a big deal to have one around. As to lightning port limitations, I question whether usb-c will give average iPhone users any other advantage other than charging their phone. What are people gonna do with it other than charge their phone…
> Why do people think it is a good thing to have this enforced by law is beyond me. It's because consumers have rights too. Standardising something actually fosters competition (healthy capitalism), increases profit (as standardising something often leads to lower manufacturing costs) while reducing costs for consumers (due to increased competition). It also reduces waste which is good for the environment. > I don't…
Apart from the cable that came in my iPhone 7's box many years ago (which still works perfectly and, excluding a little dirt, looks like new), all my other lightning cables are off-brand ones that cost much less than $20 apiece. More like 10.
Some of them (Aukey brand) developed a wonky connection after a while, or only work on one side. The others (Amazon Basics) still work perfectly, after spending uncountable hours in the sun and rain powering my phone on my motorbike's handlebars.
All this without any kind of law (I'm in the EU).
This is an awesome move in my opinion. While it's pretty much defactor making it universal and legally required will be with the cutter and waste that is created by often requiring a special charger or a different charge for a device.
ahem de facto, it's latin.
Now defactor I'd never seen before.