Comment by webmobdev | Hacker News Reader

Comment by webmobdev | Hacker News Reader

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> Why do people think it is a good thing to have this enforced by law is beyond me.

It's because consumers have rights too. Standardising something actually fosters competition (healthy capitalism), increases profit (as standardising something often leads to lower manufacturing costs) while reducing costs for consumers (due to increased competition). It also reduces waste which is good for the environment.

> I don't see any win besides a minor convenience.

You will, when you have to buy another USB-C cable for your iDevice. I recently had to, for an iPad Air, and I was able to buy a good quality replacement USB-C cable (of similar spec) from Samsung for Rs. 750 (around $10) rather than paying Apple an exorbitant Rs. 2000 (around $20+). (Past experience with Apple cables has taught me that the higher price charged by Apple is no guarantee of better quality, and other non-Apple cables from reputed companies are often cheaper, more durable and last longer than Apple's).

You can already buy non-Apple branded lightning cables.

Apart from the cable that came in my iPhone 7's box many years ago (which still works perfectly and, excluding a little dirt, looks like new), all my other lightning cables are off-brand ones that cost much less than $20 apiece. More like 10.

Some of them (Aukey brand) developed a wonky connection after a while, or only work on one side. The others (Amazon Basics) still work perfectly, after spending uncountable hours in the sun and rain powering my phone on my motorbike's handlebars.

All this without any kind of law (I'm in the EU).

> You can already buy non-Apple branded lightning cables.

Lightening cables are not a standard and thus Apple dictates terms even with non-Apple lightening cables. As lightening cables are not an industry standard the prices are influenced by Apple and artificially inflated (even for non-Apple ones). And they can only be used with Apple devices. (Lightening cables have seen a recent price fall only after Apple shifted to USB-C for some iDevices, as the market fears Apple is already preparing to switch to USB-C).

USB-C cables will be even cheaper in the future as they are standardised, and since they can be used with multiple devices (due to such regulations) you need to buy fewer of them too.

I don't particularly follow Apple's products, so I don't know when they started selling USB-C devices, and hence what "recently" means to you.

What I can say, is that in France on Amazon, USB-C cables and Lightning cables had similar prices when I last bought mine a few years ago. I usually compare Amazon Basics and Ugreen / Aukey brands.

> since they can be used with multiple devices (due to such regulations) you need to buy fewer of them too.

I’ve seen this argument a few times “yay now I only have to take one cable on holiday”. Sure, unless you want to charge two devices at once while you’re sleeping, perhaps… it’s an unrelated argument to which connector is better.

This I really don't get. It reads as though you're saying that non-apple cables are cheaper and better, and also that mandating USB-C is valuable because it means you don't have to buy cables from apple.

Most certainly there are cables that are much better than the ones Apple is selling. I’ve been an iPhone/iPad user for more than 10 years and I no longer use Apple cables because they are gone in 6-8 months. This is an issue they had from the very beginning and which they utterly ignored.

In contrast, I bought an usb-c cable from one plus 5 years ago, which is still in perfect condition. With the iPhones, I use cables from some company (forgot the name) that have lifetime warranty. I swear I could tow my car with those, _for the same price_

So... you can buy non-Apple cables for your lightning iPhone that work well. So... there's no problem?

Lightening cables have currently seen a price fall as Apple introduced USB-C devices. Yes, it's an automatic win for us consumers when regulation creates industry standard and fosters competition as that gives us the option to buy a product from multiple vendor. When something is standardised it is better for the whole industry, and especially for us consumers as it means we are not forced to buy something whose design and manufacturing is dictated by a single company. With lightening cables, Apple dictated the design and manufacturing terms and thus had an influence on its price even for non-Apple branded cables. With USB-C as a standard it can no longer do so.

What exactly is your USB-C cable example meant to illustrate? You were successfully able to buy a cheaper cable without any laws being passed. Seems like things are working fine as-is.

I benefited only because I bought a USB-C iDevice. Apple introduced USB-C support in some of its devices not because they wanted to but only because they realised that regulation would force them to in the future. Now that the regulation is in effect, Apple will be forced to drop support for its proprietary lightening cable and switch to supporting USB-C standards for all its devices. That's a huge win for consumers and the industry too.

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