991–1000 of 1001 posts
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Nah, in a move of immense courage they will ditch charging all together and start selling single use iPhones. I can see the dollars rolling in now.
https://xkcd.com/2680/
As an EU citizen, I am really happy with this decision. I am an iPhone user, but having an iPhone is not ubiquitous here, almost all of my friends/special other, use an Android phone with USB-C. Most of their laptops, Mac or not, use or allow USB-C for charging. This as been the case for a few years now, yet, if I go somewhere for more than a full day and forget my lighting cable, my phone will become a useless paper…
There is nothing about a USB-C cable or port that mandates SuperSpeed (err, 5GB or higher) data transfer rates. Most compliant charging cables are still Hi-Speed (480 mbps), and capped at 30W (higher requires an active component in the cable).
Similarly, there is nothing about Lightning that restricts the transfer speed to Hi-Speed. There were iPad Pro models with lightning that supported a USB 3 adapter, which had (I believe) 5 Gbps transfer speed. However, the decision was made to switch the subsequent generations of Pro models to USB-C, leaving that part as a bit of a curiosity.
I suspect because of the sheer volume of lightning cables out there, Apple simply doesn't want to cause confusion by creating 'tiers' of certified cables that have the same set of plugs on the ends and which thus look identical, but which have different properties. If only the USB-IF considered such things.
> If we want to really be more environmentally friendly, wouldn't it make more sense to have no cable at all with the devices we buy, force the sellers to clearly tell the consumers about it and offer the cable on the side only if needed?
One could hope! This should also shrink the packaging down further, having a measurable cost reduction on shipping as well as packaging waste.
I go through a lot of phones, but have relatives who are on a 3-4 year upgrade cycle. Thus, I've been able to find good homes for any excess USB-C to lightning cables (and they've been ecstatic when I've given them powerful multi-port USB-C chargers as gifts as well).
Hopefully we'll see countries continue to change their laws so that you don't need to bundle cables, chargers and/or headsets with purchases. France I believe finally changed their laws requiring a bundled headset, and it went into effect this year.
> I would also add that all lightning cables won't suddenly go to the landfill in 2024. Many people will keep their iPhones/AirPods for a while after that date. Many would probably donate their old lightning cables to whoever needs them
I'd expect the vast majority to be trashed by 2029, along with the majority of USB-A chargers. I've had support issues where family has thought their devices had bad software or failing batteries, but it turns out they had accidentally switched to some cheap, low wattage USB-A charger.
I somewhat expect the wide array of differences between USB-A, USB-C power delivery support, and active vs passive cables will mean that devices may start to give troubleshooting guidance for slow charging. At this point, I would expect quite a few USB-A chargers and cabling to go to the trash.
I'd rather it hadn't come to this because I don't believe in regulation to this extent. But there honestly hasnt been any excuse for a long time for them not to do it. Especially when some other iOS products have it, same with the AirPods case. It's purely to make more money from cables and you can tell this from the lengths they go to that make sure non-legit cables are so unreliable and have DRM.
AirPods use Lightning cables for charging, not USB-C. (Potentially your sentence could be read the other way though so not sure if you intended to say that.)
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The EU did this to help the environment. Wireless charging is less efficient than charging cable and wastes electricity, so we may see the EU ban wireless charging.
Apple should ban the EU, that’d straighten this mess out pretty quick.
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Wait you think they somehow tried to compete with apple ? That's not how USB works.
If there is no better connector, why should the committee put any effort into developing anything better? Tech history, and human history in general, is littered with examples. Especially in the old Warsaw Pact states.
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There's nothing wise or moral about this decision. Mandating a technology standard, purely for personal preference and convenience reasons -- not for reasons related to safety, or pollution, or security -- especially for things that change as fast as phones, is one of the most short-sighted and naive things any government could do. There's a long history of Apple using proprietary connectors to achieve performance sp…
>in favor of wireless charging So, force people to have more stuff and use the less power efficent option. As well as the glued-in non-replaceable batteries that were such a wonderful futuristic idea before. Thank the flying spaghetti monster that the EU is "behind the market", because the market is consumer-hostile garbage.
My current phone has both usb-c and wireless charging. Removing the port is undeniably a downgrade, how can anyone not understand that?
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I am hoping for my next car to be chargeable through a USB-C port too! /s I love the fact that there is a standardized port, and I can get devices of any type to charge with a single powerful charger. But connector and cables are wonky at best if you want to have a single cable for everything too (look up prices, thickness and lengths of USB-C PD 100W, alt-DP 1.4 capable, USB 3+ speeds cables, and then watch them bre…
> I am hoping for my next car to be chargeable through a USB-C port too! /s I’m aware of your sarcasm, but it did bother me that my Tesla used a proprietary port that made it more difficult to use other charging locations, such as the charger next to my apartment. Electric vehicle charging ports need standardization as well. Perhaps having these laws standardizing ports will set the groundwork for a more robust stand…
Similarly for cars: as you push for faster charging, you'll need bigger connector pins, though I am sure (I hope?) standard EV ports are sufficiently over-engineered for the time being.
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Yup this is huge government overreach and the EU increasingly looks hostile to tech companies which produce most of the value in modern economies. Don’t like the lightning cable? Buy a different phone, it’s really that simple
If we had a true free market, without that IP monopoly crap, I would be able to buy a 100% compatible iPhone clone with USB-C. But since Apple gets the benefit of IP monopoly - I can't.
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> e-waste The irony of, e.g., Brazil, passing laws that Apple can't leave the cable and charger out of the box. Meanwhile, who with a current phone uses a cable to charge any more? Even before MagSafe the wireless is far more convenient, now with MagSafe and a zillion brands of stands that do phone + watch + AirPods all wireless, not to mention even MagSafe for cars that charge and don't drop the phone on bad roads,…
Raises hand . I don't have an iPhone, but I find wireless charging to just be kinda annoying. The only place I use it is in my car, which has a built-in charging pad, with good mechanical design that keeps the phone from moving around (and possibly losing the wireless charging "connection"). Otherwise, everywhere else, I'm always wired when I charge, and I kinda don't care about wireless charging. > But, speaking of…
To be clear: iPhones do not have a tab, so iPhones don't break, the lightning cable does. iPads now have a tab. Hopefully it won't break.
A USB-C standing phone dock effectively has a tab on both dock (to insert into a phone's socket) and in the phone (the tab that sits inside the USB-C socket), so that's 2 tabs for one docking experience.
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> e-waste The irony of, e.g., Brazil, passing laws that Apple can't leave the cable and charger out of the box. Meanwhile, who with a current phone uses a cable to charge any more? Even before MagSafe the wireless is far more convenient, now with MagSafe and a zillion brands of stands that do phone + watch + AirPods all wireless, not to mention even MagSafe for cars that charge and don't drop the phone on bad roads,…
You're living in a bubble. Cable based charging is still far more common than wireless. There are still people who refuse to use bluetooth headphones. I am not carrying around another device that requires charging
I mean ... the device requires charging either way. Unless you only use wired phones.