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

51–60 of 482 posts

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

#51

Post by rootusrootus »

brundolf wrote: post #31
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…

Two key differences vs last time: 1. As you mentioned, most accessories have moved to wireless. I still (usually) use a physical cable for charging, and I guess I have a 3.5mm dongle, but I think those are the only two things I've plugged into my iPhone in years. Docks with a physical port, in particular, were super popular 10+ years ago and don't really exist anymore. People won't be throwing away speakers. 2. They…

> 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 who will now complain loudly that Apple just forced them to buy a whole bunch of expensive new cables.

At least USB-C is more durable by far than Micro USB was, even if it's not as durable as Lightning. Nothing can fix the stupidity of USB-C cables, though. What a mess.

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

#52

Post by chomp »

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 at a hotel in Italy a few years ago, and the radio alarm next to the bed _still_ had the 30 pin connector. No doubt that there are probably a ton of people still annoyed at Apple.

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

#53

Post by renewiltord »

kalleboo wrote: post #5
generalizations wrote: post #3

And I guess that means we won't get any more cable interface innovation for a while. Are we really that certain that micro USB -- I mean, USB-C -- is the format to standardize on for the foreseeable future?

And all because Apple refused to play ball and just adopt USB-C like the rest of the industry. They're too used to US regulators that just roll over and don't follow through with their threats. For over a decade the EU has tried to get the industry to adopt a common standard without mandating it in law (we got microUSB on all phones instead of the previous proprietary ports thanks to the 2009 voluntary EU memorandum…

Thank fuck they didn't because otherwise we would have ended up with the shitty mini USB crap.

Apple has been the one company making progress on stuff:

- no floppy

- no optical

- no shitty as mini or micro USB

- no Flash

Each time people whined about the fact that they "didn't use what everyone else does" and each time they were right.

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

#54

Post by withinboredom »

brundolf wrote: post #31
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…

Two key differences vs last time: 1. As you mentioned, most accessories have moved to wireless. I still (usually) use a physical cable for charging, and I guess I have a 3.5mm dongle, but I think those are the only two things I've plugged into my iPhone in years. Docks with a physical port, in particular, were super popular 10+ years ago and don't really exist anymore. People won't be throwing away speakers. 2. They…

I’m more hopeful that they’ll actually include drivers for those devices (probably not). It’d be nice to hook up a screen via hdmi instead of needing an Apple TV. Or plugging in a dock with regular mouse/keyboard attached.

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

#56

Post by Hamuko »

burke wrote: post #17
Hamuko wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And I guess that means we won't get any more cable interface innovation for a while. What cable innovations has the iPhone had thus far?

Lightning? Certainly at the time it was released it was a far superior connector than the alternatives. USB-C wins out IMO but only because of its now-ubiquity. Lightning is still, I think, a slightly better connector for a handheld.

Lightning was 10 years ago, and that was to replace the then nine-year-old 30-pin Dock connector. And I think the only feature that the Lightning connector had over the 30-pin was that it was reversible. Unless we count the size as a feature?

Actually, the 30-pin connector had a bunch of functionality that was lost when Apple moved to Lightning. The 30-pin connector could for example carry analog audio. The Lightning to 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter needs to have a tiny DAC inside it to actually convert to analog signal.

So if the suggested premise is that we are not going to be seeing "any more cable interface innovation", I'd argue that we weren't seeing much from Apple anyways.

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

#57

Post by scarface74 »

dagmx wrote: post #12
generalizations wrote: post #3

And I guess that means we won't get any more cable interface innovation for a while. Are we really that certain that micro USB -- I mean, USB-C -- is the format to standardize on for the foreseeable future?

The EU regulations have regular reevaluations of the format built in. So if something better comes along, it can replace USB-C at that point.

Wow, you can’t imagine how excited I am that EU regulators get to decide the direction of technology.

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

#58

Post by frosted-flakes »

collegeburner wrote: post #30
philliphaydon wrote: post #25

I must be the only person on HN who thinks the lightening port is better than USB-C.

no you're not. sturdier, clicks in better and doesn't wear down the same way. and im not even a apple fan/user.

You've never had a bad connection with Lightning? Every Lightning cable I've ever had has two pins that have become blackened due to frequent arcing. And the "click" is dependent on the quality of the cable. USB-C cables from Apple click in exactly the same as their Lightning cables, for example.

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

#59

Post by RealStickman_ »

burke wrote: post #17
Hamuko wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And I guess that means we won't get any more cable interface innovation for a while. What cable innovations has the iPhone had thus far?

Lightning? Certainly at the time it was released it was a far superior connector than the alternatives. USB-C wins out IMO but only because of its now-ubiquity. Lightning is still, I think, a slightly better connector for a handheld.

Lightning was never available for other manufacturers. Maybe it could have won if Apple hadn't kept it to themselves.

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

#60

Post by falcolas »

enriquec wrote: post #20
falcolas wrote: post #14

Good. When we're constantly adding more data transfer functionality and power capabilities to USB-C, I don't buy the "but muh innovation" argument. The magic of USB-C isn't in the physical interface, it's in the chips that connect to the interface (both in the device and the cable). And if those chips want to change the pinouts after bootstrapping via the current pinout configuration, they can and will.

you may not buy the "but muh innovation" - its also sad that that passes for discourse for you - but it is economic fact. whats your opinion on "muh regulatory capture"? what about lightning vs microusb?

Sadly, that is the state of discourse that's coming from the innovation POV. The entire tone of these arguments boils down to an appeal to "common sense" with nothing backing it.

And, as repeatedly pointed out, it's not like the EU is preemptively stifling all potential replacements. They're explicitly carving room in the laws for those replacements when they're ready.

Post reply on HN