Six reasons the EU should force the iPhone to use USB-C
thenextweb.com
thenextweb.com
Maybe this is a good lesson for industries to not try to play games with legislators if you cannot live with the consequences.
Removing and patents around proprietary connectors would make sense. Forcing companies to publish the specifications of their connectors might help. Picking the most popular and locking it in for who knows how long, not such a good idea..
Why not? Would you like it if every brand of electrical appliance came with its own proprietary type of wall plug?
The fact Apple has gotten away with this for so long is impressive. There would be an Unholy shitstorm rained upon Sony if they made their TVs and Play stations have proprietary connectors that required additional adapters to use with non-Sony products
Wireless charging is a huge waste of energy and doesn't really go well with the environmental moves Apple has been making (if that was their real motivation).
I do understand the convenience of wireless charging in situations like driving, but like 90%+ of charging is at home during the night where there is no excuse for just plugging it in. And I want my damn cable for data transfer (but this is just me).
And then of course a daily occurence - I lie down in bed, about 5% battery left, want to watch some youtube or whatever - now I can just plug in a cable and continue using my phone. With portless, how exactly am I supposed to do that? With the funny magsafe dongle that you need to be super careful not to detach as you hold the phone and which doesn't really stick on unless you use one of the approved cases? No thanks.
- I have been involved in project that included wireless chargers for phones used by automotive OEMs, and those can be pretty hard to qualify. On one design we had the type and level of radiation that is considered potentially harmful for pacemakers. And having in mind a lot of people would be buying these chargers from unknown and uncertified sources (cheapest one from Wish for e.g.) it makes me dislike them even more. Yes wired dodgy chargers can be bad, but the scope of failures is smaller.
- 3rd reason as I noted is a personal one, I just don't trust wireless as I do wires when it comes to data transfer (physical robustness), and I prefer to use the wired way when it's a reasonable option. This is rooted in the ethernet vs WiFi choice. But this is debatable. Also current speed difference in transfer.
We will have plates attached to a cable we can attach (magnetic) when we need to charge a drained battery and watch tv.
These are all solvable issues. Wireless makes the most sense moving forward. That is what the EU should be pushing for. The charging/data cable is a backup and not the primary way to charge
I think they're doing the right thing there.
Sounds to me like someone at the EU saw this as low hanging fruit quick win and yeah sounds good but it’s short sighted.
I don’t need the port to be removed, but I doubt I would regularly use USB-C. It is more difficult to plug in than lightning, and will still suffer from the same cable issues.
Granted, Apple seems to have much better hardware quality control than most vendors and iPhones might not ever have this issue.
There seems to be little benefit in the jump right now; the phones are already waterproof, they already make money from the accessories, they will only anger a lot of people who still use the cable. It feels like right now portless doesn't bring that much positives over the negatives for them.
As for USB-C, I found it weird in their presentation how much they talked it up for their iPad mini, but don't want to use it on the iPhone. If EU push them into a corner they may just pay the fines year after year instead of changing, they can afford it.
My next laptop will be from frame.work.
Which is why iPhone S Pro(2024) has a USB-C port. Starting at $2699 for 16GB models.
"Going portless" wouldn't save Apple they still have to use a generic technology between the wall socket and the phone.
I imagine that if Apple made their technology an industry standard, that a) others could implement, and b) Apple were themselves governed by, then the EU would consider it in addition to usb-c.
But really, why bother, it's so inefficient ... and it might get rejected by the regulators on the basis of energy wastage alone ...
> This is a profoundly stupid way to approach product design and standardisation. What happens in 5 years when someone wants to use a better connector? What if they’d picked USB 3 five years ago?
* https://twitter.com/benedictevans/status/1441009296540676096
> But Apple has also argued that if the European Union had imposed a common charger in 2009, it would have restricted innovation that led to USB-C and Lightning connectors. In a statement, Apple said that although it welcomed the European Commission’s commitment to protecting the environment, it favored a solution that left the device side of the charging interface open for innovation.
* https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/business/european-union-a...
In 2009 we would have been stuck with micro-USB:
> These E.U. meddlers have indeed been clamoring for this legislation since 2009 — Apple didn’t pick that date out of the air. At the time, iPhones used 30-pin iPod USB 1 adapters and most other phones used adapters like Micro-USB and (gag) Mini-USB. You don’t have to be a computer engineer to look back at your lifetime and realize that computer plugs and adapters keep getting smaller and better. Do they really think no one is going to come up with an adapter better than USB-C? Ever?
* https://daringfireball.net/linked/2021/09/23/eu-usbc-mandate
That's something that Apple users would have benefitted from, when apple changed to their newer proprietary cable, since they'd only need to swap the cable. Plus the general benefit of the market interoperability that provides lots of cheap 3rd party USB chargers for cars and such like.
edit: looks like they got a voluntary agreement, not an actual law, and Apple was one of the signatories, and it was in place up until in 2014 in various guises:
Laws change to adapt to the industry's demands. Although, I wonder what this person means by "better connected". USB-C is good enough for computers; is it not good enough for phones?
> it favored a solution that left the device side of the charging interface open for innovation
Apple is lying, of course, so it's good to verify their claims. The proposed legislation doesn't forbid the use of Lightning ports or whatever Apple wants to use. They just need to allow USB-C charging as well. So the field is still open for innovation.
> These E.U. meddlers
Sorry, but if you want to sell your phones in the EU, then you'll have to learn to play by the rules set by the EU citizens. Nobody's forcing you to sell here, and don't let the door hit you on your way out.
USB-C is at least the fifth (might be sixth or more) iteration of device-side USB connector. The concern is this legislation will significantly slow the pace of improvement. If the EU passed this in 1997, would we have a DC barrel jack or a USB-B connector on our phones? Is that an improvement for consumers?
And if they're wrong? How do we get a better option if no one is incentivized to experiment because of legal mandates? How can someone even add a new, perhaps better, option if it's illegal to do so?
Maybe they should apply a little more innovation and make lighnting work with the usb-c format
Would a C-to-Lightning cable count? Because those do exist, and are now what you get in the box with newer iPhones.
Laptop chargers tend to not have the other end of the cable datachable.
And let's be real, here. This is Apple's fault. Apple alone has been creating this problem, and has been VERY aware than the EU has been pissed, for like a decade.
Apple, what did you think was going to happen?
If Apple hadn't been an asshole here, and tossed out the lightning port 5 years ago, then none of this would have happened.
The EU is forced to legislate because Apple refused to cooperate. And the EU for YEARS told Apple "if you don't cooperate you're forcing us to legislate".
You're also not wrong. This is a big shit sandwidch, and we're all gonna have to take a big bite. But this is VERY much Apple's fault that we're in this mess, and will switch to a different mess due to this legislation.
It's an improvement by miles. Fuck you Apple for holding this back for so long. Literally everyone else did the right thing before the force of law.
A more reasonable approach that supports innovation, and helps to reduce e-waste, is a multi-part plan:
- Require public disclosure of all technical aspects of physical connectors, whether it is a plug-in port or a magnetic/induction or wireless interface. Require licensing on an FRAND basis, but only for a very limited time period, say 5 years. This gets rid of the lock-in, but helps finance adoption, testing, etc., and also creates public disclosure to support right-to-repair, etc.
- Mandate which types of physical connectors must be supported by different device categories for all EU and member state purchasing regimes, which types of connectors will be provided for in public accommodations, etc., and create strict processes for any granted exceptions. This will help subsidize consolidation, penalize the experience of products that choose to not comply, etc., but it still allows for innovation and change without actually specifying product design choices.
- Lastly, require companies that sell electronics to pay into an e-waste fund on a per-unit manufactured basis. Charge the companies something that reflects the externalities of their choices and make them accommodate and evaluate cradle-to-grave impact of their innovative designs before they can enter the marketplace.
USB-C isn’t the perfect dream world of device interfaces, and Apple’s approach of “no ports” experimentation is neither proven, nor an actual solution to the problems the EU is concerned about.
Meanwhile, what has changed in the market? Lightning inspired USB-C. Apple has adopted USB-C on their MacBook and iPad devices. Guess what next year's iPhone, released on the 10th anniversary of adopting Lightning, is likely to have? A USB-C port.
This is really much ado over nothing. The regulators haven't actually done anything but they'll pawn it off that they took the fight to Apple and won. This is what passes for leadership these days.
thats a pretty wide range. What is the basis for these numbers?
USB-C is replacing ports that existed for 7 and 25 years, depending on which end you look at. It's not going to change again any time soon.
> What’s the basis to think this is the last one for a long time when we’ve seen new ones introduced about every five years so far?
A big part is that this is also replacing type A plugs. Also it's been continuously upgraded without any changes needed, after being heavily designed around that concept, with us currently 7 years in with no hint of wanting to replace it.
Giant B, mini B, micro B, the giant B with the extra dormer on top of it, the micro B with the extra bit next to it, and USB-C.
Literally all six of them are within reach from my desk (my monitor takes a dormer version, an external HD housing takes the extra-wide version, Arduino clones take a giant original and mini, and most devices take a micro-B or -C.)
> Are you counting type A 3.0 and micro 3.0 as "separate iterations"?
I counted only device-side differences (as the point of the EU law is to reduce e-waste by reducing device-side variation). I didn’t make any distinction on variations in the host (A) side of the cable.
When you're trying to make a point about how often they change things, it doesn't make sense to list two variants that came out at the same time.
Also micro and micro 3.0 came out a year and a half apart, so that's even less reason to count them as different iterations.
Perhaps the USB-C teams finally got a forever connector designed on the N+1th spin, but my experience suggests that while they learned and made it better, we’re nowhere near done evolving in electronics and cable connectivity yet.
Also the 3.0 variants don't matter for charging.
USB-C finally manages to have high speed pins and be small at the same time, and they gave it extra expandability too. There's no reason it needs to be updated any time soon. And they already have done some major updates but they've kept the same plug.
And that xkcd, eh. USB isn't exactly competing with USB, and I fully expect old versions of B to die out like mini did.
They most certainly do matter for charging when you can't plug the larger plug into the smaller hole on a device.
It seems that alot of these articles tend to forget that devices exist, and will be created, beyond iphones.
The problem of 100 different phone chargers was resolved 10 years ago. There are actual problems in the world, that there are 2 types of bits of metal you shove in the back of your phone doesnt even rank on the list.
You can't just say "Apple can do whatever they want, but every other company has to fall in line!". If you don't want other companies to do whatever they want then you wont let Apple to do it either.
Absolutely would love to see apple on usb-c, I honestly dont know why they have not, unless they are waiting for a mini usb-c or just trying to keep the current product cycle going a little longer.
This EU initiative is fantastic, it worked, it continues to work. For all the abuse the EU gets for its bright ideas, this was an actual issue back in the day and they have had a material impact in this space.
Apple's misinformation: "We remain concerned that strict regulation mandating just one type of connector stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, which in turn will harm consumers in Europe and around the world."
Reality: "Breton said manufacturers, including Apple, could choose to offer two charging ports on their devices if they wanted to keep a non-USB-C connector"
It's ironic. Many people hailing Jobs as a visionary said that placing design restrictions on Apple products forced designers to think out of the box and produce a superior product. Well now, here's a design restriction for you.
This is one of the (now) small things I appreciate every single day since I only have to manage ~2 usb connector types instead of 10+ proprietory ones.
I dont care about apple but id love to be able to charge all electronic devices with the same cables.
This is the thing that gets me … surely the cheapest solution for the manufacture of the cheap electronics is a usb mini connector. But instead they slap a usb wall brick with a random connector from the pets bin to plug into the device.
Why!?
My 10 year old lightning cable next to my bed still charges my phone every night. it has seen 3000+ plug in/out cycles, and still works as well as when it was new.
Any phone i've had plugged in has never had any issues with loose connectors.
My work HP laptop on the other hand has a USB C plug for charging/display/etc, and despite being less than a year old, it already has the dreaded "wobble" in the USB C connector.
The USB C connector is a marginal improvement over micro-usb but that's about all.
All USB plugs have their connectors on the inside, making it impossible to clean them.
If the lack of a USB-C charging port bothers you that much, you have thousands of other options or ways around this problem.
You don't need government threatening businesses because one company made and stands by a decision you don't like.
Apple use lighting connectors on their phones, but the ones they ship now connects to USB-c. Apple does not change ports easily (on their phones), but when they do it is a huge deal that people remember.
Also Apple has been on a modern port since before USB-C existed, which was likely why they created lighting.
Anybody who cares AT ALL about privacy or security is horrified by this idea.
A user should have the expectation that charging a device does not compromise the safety.
These exploits usually target the PC side. If anything this makes it harder to target iPhones, since you have harder time at making sure your malicious cable would be used on an iPhone, while with USB-Lightning you are sure of it.
If exploits were universal to all platforms than your remark would make sense.