Apple Reportedly Planning to Limit iPhone 15's USB-C Port in the Same Way as Lightning

[3448322]

I can't remember the last time I plugged in my phone to do any sort of data transfer. File management is done either via airdrop, cloud storage or web services (eg: I mail or telegram the file to myself). I guess it's less acceptance and more indifference.

To be honest I wished I could live without a smartphone at all, but it's not like we have an option on many things these days, isn't it? I guess it's less indifference and more acceptance.

 

[diddl14]

That would be pretty much impossible for Apple to prove. If a customer was using a cheap charger and it broke their phone, Apple would need to completely prove that the customers charger was at fault to legally deny warranty service. To do that they would need to see the charger that was being used and ultimately the customer could just lie and bring in a genuine charger and cable and say they were using those when the phone broke.

Agree, hard to prove and probably not worth it and the end.

 

[Doubleagent2022]

I can certainly imagine Apple doing this. This is the sort of arbitrary, monkey-with-something thing they do. Going out of their way to hobble something so as to create “tiers” of performance or whatever.

No real impact on my day-to-day existence, it’s just weird that this is where they allocate their design and engineering efforts.

I don’t know…

Hello I’m a newbie on this site and I’m new on Reddit I’m a apple fan boy but I’m not a fan of lightning to usb

That’s so 2012



I agree with anyone on this site who wants usbc on iPhone .

 

[Doubleagent2022]

I wanted usb-c on iPhones since the iPhone 7 since 2016 .

 

[waltonfc1]

It can't be true, considering new ipads has real usb-c ports

My thoughts exactly

 

[mnsportsgeek]

That would be pretty much impossible for Apple to prove. If a customer was using a cheap charger and it broke their phone, Apple would need to completely prove that the customers charger was at fault to legally deny warranty service. To do that they would need to see the charger that was being used and ultimately the customer could just lie and bring in a genuine charger and cable and say they were using those when the phone broke.

The iPhone could easily log how long a non authorized charger was used for.

 

[jlc1978]

But can the EU do anything about it? It just goes to show the challenges of trying to legislate a particular course of action. You can list out what you want them to do, but you cannot tell them what not to do.

Exactly. To your point, if the EU had said "you can't do X" they would have a spec that did not allow for any faster speeds, since they would have fixed all the details into the directive. Charging speeds would be limited to PD, data to whatever USB speed they decided, etc. People would be screaming the EU prevented the from using Thunderbolt or any new, faster spec the standards committee approved. Until the directive was amended, the EU would be behind the rest of the world.

Well ofc they can and if Apple tries something like this they probably will.

And you certainly can tell them what not to do. You do it through legislation. You make the initial law and then subsequently close any loopholes and clarify the original law, again, through legislation

There is no loophole. The EU set a minimum charging requirement and allowed manufactures to include any additional features they wanted as long as the minimum requirements are met. It would not surprise me to see other manufacturers doing similar things to differentiate their products from Apple and other competitors.

And the initial rumour seems suspect, as I find it hard to believe Apple would be hacking the USB spec to not allow the use of valid USB-C cables.

Nothing would prevent you fro using a generic USB-C cable for charging; much as you can today. MiFI would only come into play beyond the EU required performance, assuming Apple decides to go that route.

Only Apple would deliberately slow the standard speeds of a port standard down, to force you to upgrade for more profit on their bottom line. Always upselling is Apple.

There is no "slowing down." They may simply decide not to use a faster available one, for whatever reasons they choose. They still would meet the port's standard.

Apple can chose whichever USB spec to follow in terms of data transfer speeds, or even develop their on data transfer protocol and still be USB compliant.

OnePlus has been doing funky things with USB-C for quite some time now. Except they do so to enable extra features and promote sales of their own line of accessories that offer things like super fast charging... whereas this seems more like a punishment to users to force them to buy Apple's overpriced accessories that offer basic functionality like wired charging.

The rumor suggests Apple may be doing the same:

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro's USB-C port and accompanying charging cables will feature a Lightning-like authenticator chip, potentially limiting their functionality with Apple-unapproved accessories, a rumor...

Apple could very well replicate today's scenario where unapproved accessories give a warning, but still work; while approved cables are capable of faster data and or charging speeds beyond the mandated minimums.

Of course, all of this is speculation based on an unsubstantiated rumor on a random site.

 

[Sincci]

I, for one, LOVE THIS. Sure it’s anti-consumer, but it’s also a middle finger to the EU.

“Here’s your stupid port, that’s all you get. Now buzz off.”

It's mostly just a middle finger to the Apple users. EU won't care as long as the port charges via usb-c.

 

[darngooddesign]

Apple wants me to put the Lightning cables into the trashcan and buy 10x Apple Certified USB-C Cables for $69 each. "Apple is committed to protecting the environment " LOL. Oh I have to trash the $2 amazon USB-C cables too as they won't work. LOL

Relax…your USB-C cables will still work.

 

[darngooddesign]

OnePlus has been doing funky things with USB-C for quite some time now. Except they do so to enable extra features and promote sales of their own line of accessories that offer things like super fast charging... whereas this seems more like a punishment to users to force them to buy Apple's overpriced accessories that offer basic functionality like wired charging.

Relax…you will be able to have wired charging with any USB-C cable.

 

[darngooddesign]

It's mostly just a middle finger to the Apple users. EU won't care as long as the port charges via usb-c.

How is a vague rumor with no specific details or hard facts a middle finger to Apple users?

 

[The Doctor11]

I can't see the EU liking this approach if true

If they made a stink about it they could just do the licensing outside the EU. That would suck.

 

[AppleFr3ak]

If this rumor is true you’ll still buy the iPhone anyway and Apple knows it.

 

[darngooddesign]

If this rumor is true you’ll still buy the iPhone anyway and Apple knows it.

Why would I let a rumor with no specifics or hard facts affect my purchasing decisions?

 

[BringBackTheNewton]

If this is true then I think we can expect another legal case next year 🙈

 

[FelixDerKater]

Cut the nonsense, Apple!

 

[NightFox]

Yeah, when you're paying over the odds for cables and suffering a deliberately handicapped user experience you can be smug in the knowledge you're really sticking it to those damn bureaucrats.

 

[VoxzeyWoxzey]

This speed restriction will likely be on
Non-pro devices. Typical Tim Cook-era Apple BS.

You mean like the article you clearly didn’t read stated?

 

[DblHelix]

Hope they add usb-pd charging and allow 45w charging speed like the top Samsung phones. Also with the large raw images would be nice to be able to transfer them at usb c speeds.

 

[maxoakland]

That completely goes against the purpose of the EU’s law and I would expect them to be fined for it.

What a gross, bad, anti-consumer choice it would be. *If* apple actually does it

 

[gaximus]

I highly doubt this.

I mean, they've been selling Apple USBC cables with the iPad for awhile now, presumably without an IC, so if someone can't use that same Apple USBC cable with an iPhone, they will no doubt hear about it...

Im also not sure they can call it a USBC port if its not operable with other USBC accessories, that would depend on the USBC standards body.

USB-C is a standard for the port, shape and pin layout, it has nothing to do with the data protocol, or charging standards. You could have a USB-C port that doesn’t support USB at all only Thunderbolt, or only USB 2, or charging only. And the EU regulation states that it only needs to support charging, think about all the chargeable devices that don’t have data that have to follow this regulation.

 

[ekowturks]

I hope the EU do something to prevent this. Apple isn’t slick like they think they are.

 

[iOS Geek]

That completely goes against the purpose of the EU’s law and I would expect them to be fined for it.

What a gross, bad, anti-consumer choice it would be. *If* apple actually does it

It doesn't go against the purpose of it at all. Their purpose is a common CHARGING standard. They don't state anything beyond charging. As long as it charges...it's in compliance.

 

[iOS Geek]

I hope the EU do something to prevent this. Apple isn’t slick like they think they are.

What would they do? Apple is complying with the rules as written. The rules require USB-C CHARGING. Those rules don't say anything about anything else.

 

[sorgo †]

Boohoo. 🙂