EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024

[vatter69]

Iphone 14 pro shooting Raw images at 100 mbyte and then having to download via Lightning at USB2.0 Speeds.
Let's not even talk about the 4k HDR video footage you can do these days going through the same bottleneck.
Then seeing some youtube tech freak posting an iphone with selfmodded USB-C ?

Can't innovate anymore my ass.

 

[solarmon]

If everyone just wore size 32 pants, nobody would be fat anymore. And making one size of everything would be efficient.

Also, everyone should look like Jennifer Lawrence. I mean, everyone!

 

[BenGieCruz]

I wonder how this will affect the phone's security.....

 

[fermat-au]

Knowing Apple, they’ll probably come up with some ridiculously stubborn workaround involving dongles.

If they do, I hope EU comes down hard on Apple, effectively banning the sale of iPhones for a year or more.

 

[1557750]

Should be required for even more stuff such as hair clippers, electric shavers and various other devices most people keep around.

Ohhh, no no no. We can’t have it being a universal port for everything, we just want to complain about the iPhone not having it.

And then when it does gets it (which I hope it goes portless first), people will complain about something else until the end of days.

It’s the new human nature. Wahhhhh, gimme gimme.

 

[1557750]

If Apple are concerned about being forced to ship an iPhone an USB-C in EU they don't have to. The other option would be to stop selling the iPhone in the EU and let Android take 100% share of the EU market 😉

Let ‘em have Android. 👊😁👍

 

[H2SO4]

Terrible news. This will stifle innovation and competition. For example, it will limit the desire to create connectors that are more efficient, faster, cheaper, easier to use than USB-C.

It will also increase costs for everyone because USB-C is significantly more expensive to implement than micro-USB or USB-A for cheap devices.

In addition, now we have to throw away countless e-waste from lightning cables, lightning chargers, and lightning accessories.

Once again, EU government is stepping into things that they shouldn't have. Thanks to them, I've had to click on cookie prompts at least 10,000 times already and I honestly could careless if websites used cookies.

I'm not against Apple using USB-C on all your devices. They're slowly getting there regardless. I'm against this kind of regulation because it will have unintended consequences.

Maybe, just maybe. The EU know more about this than you do?
Maybe they have thought 'look at this plethora of different leads that aren't interoperable between different manufacturers', and maybe they have looked at the landfill all of this produces?

I'd prefer a little bit of the stifled innovation you claim, (which isn't necessarily true), as opposed to all these different leads and adapters and the Apple tax you pay for lightning.
At some stage you would have had to bin lighting, after all we binned the old dock connector. Why not now for a better universal standard?

Bravo EU. BRAVO!!!

 

[TechLord]

I don’t have any usb-c products. I would rather apple improves wireless charging and goes portless. Hopefully the Uk doesn’t abide by this legislation.

And how would this affect future older devices like the iPhone 14 which will still be retailing by 2024 if the current trends continue. 14 will still have a lightning port.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Great news. Now mandate sideloading by 2024 next.

 

[TechLord]

Hopefully Apple designs the newer Pro models to be completely port-less and laughs at the EU.

Android dominates in Europe anyway, Uk is the one exception and I doubt that’ll change with the bad economy and recent price rises. Most Europeans have some spyware ridden Xiaomi/redmi/bluemi junk.

 

[polyphenol]

I'm interested to see how Apple is going to introduce usb-c on the iPhone now.

By introducing Thunderbolt 4?

 

[magicschoolbus]

Lol. Apple will somehow get out of this with saying just use the MagSafe adapter and close out all ports on the phone all together.

 

[mikethemartian]

I'm interested to see how Apple is going to introduce usb-c on the iPhone now. How are they going to make it sound like their innovative for switching to usb-c, when they are the last ones to make the switch? And how are they going to make it sound like this was their choice, and not the EU's?

They are going to call it Lightning 2.

 

[polyphenol]

I wonder if the EU would be criticised as much if they mandated that all EU mobile services have to support eSIM?

(Not that they must switch over to eSIM only. Just that eSIMs must be an available option.)

Ideally without any cost implications.

 

[jz0309]

this has been so long in the making, why is iPhone 14 still using Lightning????

 

[Shadowbech]

I feel it's long overdue and much needed. Even if they are being forced by 2024. I hope maybe Apple will start putting it on iphone 15.

 

[Stuey3D]

For those saying Apple should go portless how would that work?

Wireless charging is very inefficient and generates a ton of heat reducing the lifespan of the battery in the device. My 7.5w wireless charger heats up the iPhone far more than the 10w wired iPad charger that I use normally.

The next issue is data transfer which is already laughably slow being stuck at USB 2 Speeds especially now you can shoot 48 megapixel RAW images which are huge in size not to mention 4K Dolby Vision video recordings. For a “Pro” device aimed at photographers and film makers being stuck at 480Mb transfer rates in 2022 is a joke and without a port you wouldn’t even have that and you’d be stuck with using internet services or AirDrop which is even slower.

Apple would have to design a high frequency short range transceiver that they could embed in the phone and in the MagSafe charger and use that for data transfer but that would be prohibitively expensive and require all sorts of approval and would also likely be less reliable too, and this is not even mentioning the millions of cars on the road which only have wired CarPlay. Oh and the lightning port also transmits video too and I bet there are still a few who use the old lightning to HDMI adapter instead of Airplay too.

They could also go down the pogo pin route like the Smart Connector but that would be adding stuff to the back of the phone which Apple desperately doesn’t like to do which is why all the FCC and other regulatory info has now been removed from the back, and for a device that for most people use cases for protection this then throws another spanner in the works when it comes to cases for the phone.

The easiest option would be to go USB-C as demanded and stick a Thunderbolt controller in the Pro models to give them something to differentiate them from the regulars, and stick a standard USB 3 controller in the regular model.

 

[psxp]

Because everyone was working from home, Apple just tweaked a iPhone 13s to a “14”. Easy money for another year.

Bet ya iPhone 15 will be high emphasis on wireless fast charging . The fast charge adapter will be usb-c. 😂

 

[indychris]

So does this mean that no one will be able to move beyond USB-C until the EU approves it?

So we expect political bureaucrats to always make the best technology decisions that are in MY best interest? And no chance that lobbyists could ever influence those decisions, right? Because we know that politicians and bureaucrats are always more knowledgeable and ethical than businesses!

 

[1557750]

Has someone made an indestructible usb-c cord I haven’t heard about??? How is this in any way going to help with electronic waste reduction?

I like using both my devices while plugged in if I’m not on the go. So if I’m using one cord for two devices, causing wear twice as fast from handling and bending, how am I reducing waste if I’m buying one cord more often?

I got it, let’s take a vote on which manufacturer make the longest lasting usb-c cable and force everyone to buy that brand so we can cut down on electronic waste. Any purchasing of another brand and you will be fined, or spend up to a 180 days in jail.

 

[ericwn]

Corrupted EU , they should force Apple or other phone maker to make phones every 2 years and that yearly iOS and macOS nonsense where the first 6 months is a beta

Not sure how interfering way further and dictating product release cycles would come off as not corrupt, or how having one charging cable, a notion certainly supported by the vast majority or the population locally, is making one corrupted.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Hitler would be proud. Good job, comrades.

 

[chucker23n1]

So does this mean that no one will be able to move beyond USB-C until the EU approves it?

Yes.

no chance that lobbyists could ever influence those decisions, right?

I mean, yes, lobbyists will influence decisions. That's kind of the purpose of lobbyists.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Does it mean no MagSafe for macs anymore ?

 

[scottrods]

Well, you tried, Apple. Tried to the very last minute to bank on people and complicate their lives. Thankfully, common sense has won and Apple will have to obey or go bye bye.

Imagine if Apple just stopped selling in the EU... which is what you're suggesting if they didn't change charging port type. How silly for the EU. (Apple probably wouldn't Die completely due to such a move, but it would certainly feel the pain... extremely. I don't know what the percentage of Apple revenue is from the EU, but I feel like legislating how a company builds its products has become another convenience for people who just want something to complain about. A frickin' cable. Gonna die over a frickin' cable. Really? I have many rechargeable items in my world, many different chargers. Th only thing I wish, is everyone learn to work with the manufacturers decision or buy another product. It's that simple. If you don't like the way Apple does Business, Don't support them by purchasing their wares. How hard is that to understand? Now the government is being used to force a company to build their product the way a bunch of people want it built... who, by the way, are not capable of changing cables and making buying decisions that fit their "needs".
Just to lend a hand to other USB cconnectors... this link shows MANY, but not all options used currently and previously. Gonna kill a lot of manufacturers ability to make their own decisions... by legislation. USB Stuff