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Comment by llm_nerd | Hacker News Reader

Pretty incidental comment, but just had to bite-

"At least - thanks to the EU - soon they can all share the same USB-C charger."

The EU is basically the guy that at 5am declares that the sun must soon rise or else. By the time the EU decided on their USB-C dictum, Apple -- a co-inventor and standards participant of USB-C -- had switched their laptops fully to USB-C, their desktops to USB-C, and half their pad line to USB-C, with the rest coming not long after. Most people fully expected the 14 to be USB-C just because it was starting to be silly, and by the 15 it would be ridiculous if they still had lightning.

Apple was already switching. Which is exactly why the EU could go ahead and faced little resistance. The EU deserves zero credit.

And FWIW, the EU in 2010 dictated that all smartphones use micro-USB. Apple provided an adapter as they moved their entire line to lightning, thankfully, as micro-USB was a garbage connector in every way.

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I doubt they would have switched on the same timeframe. They dragged their feet for so long and they also fought against this regulation.

And they saw it coming, so doing prep work doesn't show they wanted to change.

A big part of the reason people thought Apple would change is because everyone knew these rules were coming.

Also I don't think micro-USB ever got mandated, and 2010 was before lightning even existed.

And given the pin burnout problems I'm not even sure if micro USB is worse than lightning with USB 2.0

Apple moving the iPhone to USB-C was incredibly obvious, even if you ignore the recurring noise about the EU. Again, every single bit of evidence was that Apple was switching their entire product line. Having the iPhone hanging around with the slow, dated lightning connector started to be embarrassing. Apple started bragging about the fast speeds and capabilities of USB-C on iPads, and they're going to use it as an upgrade feature on the 15.

Apple moved their laptops to USB-C in 2015. The iPad started switching in 2018. Thunderbolt 3 & 4, created by Apple and Intel use USB-C.

And yes, the EU dictum before was a voluntary agreement, and Apple provided an adapter and then went from the bad 30-pin to the much better lightning. Which is Apple's resistance to the EU saying "this is it...the eternal connector".

> every single bit of evidence was that Apple was switching their entire product line

2015 was eight years ago. They were actually pretty early to USB-C, setting it up in a couple years, then they waited another couple years without bringing it to iphone, then another, then another.

The evidence was that they were in no rush at all.

And thunderbolt isn't relevant when their phones are still on USB 2.

> Which is Apple's resistance to the EU saying "this is it...the eternal connector".

That is not what the law says. Stop that.

Not sure why you're downvoted. Apple led the charge on a fully usb-c ecosystem. There are billions of lightening devices out there, so Apple has been transitioning over multiple years. The charger side went usb-c awhile back. Now most users should have usb-c chargers, and likely a few usb-c cables. When the iPhone changes this year or next, it won't be a big deal. People forget when Apple went from the 30-pin to lightening there were a lot of complaints. This though, Apple can point to the EU and say 'they made us', even though they have been headed this way all along.

> The charger side went usb-c awhile back. Now most users should have usb-c chargers, and likely a few usb-c cables.

Given that Apple never included usb-c charger with their iPhone, all Apple had accomplished was creating a bunch of soon to be obsoleted usb-c to lighting cable with this extended timeline

The iPhone 11 Pro (and maybe 12) came with a usb-c charger.

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