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Comment by Someone1234 | Hacker News Reader

I believe if Apple had played this smarter, this wouldn't have become a thing e.g.:

- Don't remove free accessories the same year you switch connector on one end (USB A to C), necessitating an additional purchase.

- Don't proclaim the environmental benefits if it is clear that Apple (not also the consumer) is the only one gaining the convenient financial benefits.

- Do some promo for the first generation without accessories, for example "only pay for shipping" on a charging brick (one per device).

With the promo Apple would have saved less money, but only the first generation without accessories, and it would have been a huge PR "buffer" that would have made them look like the good-guy.

But instead they green-washed the whole thing, which nobody really believed, and came off looking cheap. Which for a company that promotes itself as kind of quasi-premium product isn't what you're going for.

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They didn’t need to play this smarter. The amount of people who switched away from iPhone as a result of this move hasn’t cost them more than the billions in profit mentioned in the headline.

Are there numbers to support this? Genuinely curious, not being a jerk. This seems really difficult to prove.

Anecdotally speaking I found this to be an incredibly smart tradeoff for Apple to make, but I'm just speaking from product-manager spidey senses. I love cutting.

I don't think $20 on top of $700-$1400 is making anyone blink. One will bitch about it and proceed with the purchase, if needed.

The move to USB-C chargers did not "necessitate an additional purchase". All the decade-old chargers and cables still work fine.

None of your points make any sense, actually. It's not true that nobody other than Apple gained financial benefits, not that anyone should expect otherwise when a company sells a product, really.

> The move to USB-C chargers did not "necessitate an additional purchase".

iPhones still ship with the cable. The cable is Lighting to USB-C. The previous generation of iPhone shipped with Lightning to USB-A (and including a USB-A power brick).

Therefore, to use the cable that Apple provides with the phone, an additional purchase is required, even if you have a legacy power brick.

The first year Apple switched from USB-A to USB-C was also the same year they stopped including a compatible power brick.

> Therefore, to use the cable that Apple provides with the phone, an additional purchase is required, even if you have a legacy power brick.

I have managed to never buy a USB-C brick. I use the cable that came in the box in my car or mophie battery pack or laptop, and it works fine in both places with no additional purchase.

My “main” charger is wireless (actually a Samsung one), so I don’t even have a “legacy” charger in the mix.

If you have a legacy iPhone power brick there's a good chance you also possess legacy Lighthnig to USB-A cable. It's more troublesome for those who migrate from Android and only have micro USB to USB-A cables and USB-A chargers.

Depending on how old the USB-A Apple power brick is, it may lack partial or full support for rapid charging. Which to unlock, would still require an additional $20 purchase.

Granted. Of course. It also requires an additional purchase to use the other, superior way of charging that's built into new iPhones, which is MagSafe, of course.

But my point was limited to dismantling the repeated claim in this thread that moving to USB-C chargers somehow "required" a new purchase, or somehow meant that all the old chargers and cables don't work. Neither of those things is true and I'm tired of reading those distortions.

Obviously quick charging could not work at full speed with the old 5W chargers, and you can't magically make USB-A support more power, so the move to USB-C was necessitated by the ability to charge more quickly. But full backwards compatibility has been maintained, as much as is possible. That's all I'm saying.

False.

I've owned android devices up to galaxy s10. All recently used USB A to C.

Switched to iphone. Only shipped with Lightning to USB C cable, no brick.

All my bricks, like I imagine most people, are USB A female.

I had no way to charge my brand newdevice and had to go out to buy a USB C female charging brick. Like most people.

> I […] had to go out to buy a USB C female charging brick.

Why didn't you buy a wire instead?

"Most people" is something you're making up. I'll wager it's a minority.

Most iPhone consumers either had a USB-C charger before, or a USB-A charger with Lightning cable from a previous iPhone, or they have a recent Mac with USB-C ports, or they have a recent PC with USB-C ports, or they have an iPad and a USB-C charger from that.

Probably it's a tiny minority who are in your situation.

Would you have rather paid extra for the phone and not gotten to choose your preferred charging method? This way you can go out and get a MagSafe charger, which is better anyway.

> - Don't remove free accessories the same year you switch connector on one end (USB A to C), necessitating an additional purchase.

The iPhone 11 Pro already came with USB-C, so that already did not happen.

> came off looking cheap

I don’t think anyone really cared. Who bought Apple will continue buying Apple, this move has zero downsides for Apple. We need to leave the tech bubble to see it.

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