Because they don’t have bigger things to worry about right now…
EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024
81–90 of 1001 posts
Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024
#82This gives me some cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, having a common connector will reduce waste and be much more convenient (eg "Hey have you got an iPhone charger?") and make losing a charger a cheaper mistake. On the other hand I'm not sure I like the idea of government mandating electrical connectors on devices, which could stifle innovation, or be very shortsighted in the typical government-rules-on-tech wa…
Forcing everyone to change cables creates waste. Apple is teh onyl company that might not have already been using USBC by the time this went into effect, and now all their customers that already had lightning cables and accessories will have to throw them out of get adapters. Not to mention that by then we will probably already be talking about USB-D or whatever is coming next. Maybe the USB counsel can just conglomerate everything under the usbc name so that companies can just use whatever they want. "Micro usbc, its just micro usb but with a new name!". Maybe that is why they have been renaming all their skews every 6 months.
I wonder if they will just be able to ship iphones with lightning cables and a usbc adapter and a usbc to lightning port adapter so the customers can just throw out the adapters and use the lightning cables.
Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024
#83"Starting in 2026, USB-C will also become the norm for laptop chargers." I believe it when I see it! My Surfacebook has USB-C Charging but its not enough to run the GPU at max. I hate the surface dock that I need to use but from my understanding -i do have to use it- because of the power requirments.
USB-C can easily deliver 100w continuously if the charger and laptop supports it.
Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024
#84This 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.
Yes, a big finally ! I love my Apple device (personal iPhone 12 mini, work iPhone 8, Apple TV 4K with new remote, iPad Air, ...) but the lightning connection should obviously have been retired a few years ago.
> should obviously have been
Except that it isn't obvious. You're essentially at the end of an extremely long and complicated supply chain for a multi-million device pipeline. You have no idea what a change, any change, involves. And because you don't know this (assuming you're not a supply chain engineer of design for manufacture specialist) you cannot state that it is obvious either.
What is obvious is that some people would have liked it sooner, and what is also obvious is that the manufacturer (Apple) has been moving in that direction for years (on other lower-volume lower-risk devices).
Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024
#85Because they don’t have bigger things to worry about right now…
One, large entities like that have a lot of people working on a lot of things, and the people dealing with whatever emergency is the current one are not disturbed or slowed down by that in the slightest
Two, if you wait until everything is perfect and there are no issue to fix the everyday things, then you never do.
Your comment makes no sense.
Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024
#86This gives me some cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, having a common connector will reduce waste and be much more convenient (eg "Hey have you got an iPhone charger?") and make losing a charger a cheaper mistake. On the other hand I'm not sure I like the idea of government mandating electrical connectors on devices, which could stifle innovation, or be very shortsighted in the typical government-rules-on-tech wa…
And Lightning is physically a better connector.
Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024
#87I like USB-C and would even be in favour of the iPhone using USB-C, but I really dislike the idea that EU regulators would know what's better for consumers than consumer electronics companies and the consumers themselves. I do kind of get it though. It's probably better for a whole host of reasons if electronics all used the same cords, but I guess you could make that argument for a lot of things. There would be bene…
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 have been plenty of bad connectors in the past which in theory the EU could now be deciding consumer electronics companies are forced to use.
This also assumes USB-C is always the best option which I doubt. I'm sure there are products which given the application, size or price point might suite a different cable better. Technology also moves on and connectors change for a reason. Now we're going to be stuck with outdated hardware until EU regulators update laws. At which companies and you as the consumer will be forced to adopt that new connector regardless of your preferences.
Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024
#88"Starting in 2026, USB-C will also become the norm for laptop chargers." I believe it when I see it! My Surfacebook has USB-C Charging but its not enough to run the GPU at max. I hate the surface dock that I need to use but from my understanding -i do have to use it- because of the power requirments.
USB-C can easily deliver 100w continuously if the charger and laptop supports it.
Seems current USB-C is limited to 100W, future will be limited to 240W. Seems most modern mobile GPUs could exceed 100W, but are within 240W at least so seems we're relatively safe.
But who knows with the new GPUs... Maybe should be a bit more headroom?
Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024
#89Because they don’t have bigger things to worry about right now…
No post body was provided.
Re: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024
#90This 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.
This is not about making the best technical choice, this is about ecology and limiting waste, which frankly is a very important and urgent issue.
They let the industry regulate itself before regulating, Apple didn't play ball, leading to samsung saying either regulation or we do our thing too, so, regulation.
I prefer a slightly worse technical solution and a regulation that needs to be updated every few years, than every phone going back to the waste hell that used to be the cellphone charger/cable market.