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Should the EU force companies like Apple to adopt a universal charger?

  • Yes - companies should adopt a universal charger such as USB-C

    Votes: 89 58.2%
  • No - companies should be allowed to use whatever charger they like

    Votes: 64 41.8%

  • Total voters
    153
Honestly if you're buying a new Apple device you can probably afford a few cables, they're not cheap devices. This is like eating a family sized pizza and thinking you'll drink a diet coke to watch your weight.

Not the point.

I'm quite happy that Apple isn't obsoleting my accessories.

Why don't we just get all of the other manufacturers to use Apple's cables?
 
Not the point.

I'm quite happy that Apple isn't obsoleting my accessories.

Well it is the point, Apple moved from the 30-pin to Lightning because they felt it was necessary, they wanted to recover space inside the phone for more components. They obsolete cases every time a new phone or iPad comes out because they change the physical parameters.

Why don't we just get all of the other manufacturers to use Apple's cables?

Because first of all, Apple hasn't made their connector an open standard and hasn't certified devices to use lightning, only stands, cables, cases etc

And secondly because Lightning is inferior to USB-C. It is USB2.0 only (33MB/s peak speed) vs USB-C (10Gb/s+, Thunderbolt 4 40Gb/s capable etc).

All the phones and tablets use USB-C, even Apples own iPad Pro and MacBook's use it. It's a superior connector. Why force their contemporaries to use an inferior technology - just makes no sense.

You can buy new cables, they're cheap. You're buying Apple stuff you should be totally used to them throwing compatibility out the window on a regular basis.
 
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Well it is the point, Apple moved from the 30-pin to Lightning because they felt it was necessary, they wanted to recover space inside the phone for more components. They obsolete cases every time a new phone or iPad comes out because they change the physical parameters.

Because first of all, Apple hasn't made their connector an open standard and hasn't certified devices to use lightning, only stands, cables, cases etc

And secondly because Lightning is inferior to USB-C. It is USB2.0 only (33MB/s peak speed) vs USB-C (10Gb/s+, Thunderbolt 4 40Gb/s capable etc).

All the phones and tablets use USB-C, even Apples own iPad Pro and MacBook's use it. It's a superior connector. Why force their contemporaries to use an inferior technology - just makes no sense.

You can buy new cables, they're cheap. You're buying Apple stuff you should be totally used to them throwing compatibility out the window on a regular basis.

They did and they got roundly criticized for it. It was nice of them to add an adapter so that I could use some of my 30-pin connectors on Lightening devices. I still do use devices with 30-pin connectors today.

I haven't upgraded my 2015 MacBook Pro because I just use legacy cables. I may have to for M1X but there's a good reason to do so.

If you want a USB-C connector on your phone, get something besides an iPhone and the problem is solved.

If other companies approached Apple on using Lightening, that could work out.
 
Why would a company want to use Lightning? as I said several times it is inferior. It is slower (83x slower) than USB-C can be (like the ones on the MacBooks and iPad Pro which support Thunderbolt 4 protocols).

It's also if you've not noticed hardly rocking the world on charge speed compared to USB-C (100 Watts).
 
Why would a company want to use Lightning? as I said several times it is inferior. It is slower (83x slower) than USB-C can be (like the ones on the MacBooks and iPad Pro which support Thunderbolt 4 protocols).

It's also if you've not noticed hardly rocking the world on charge speed compared to USB-C (100 Watts).

Standardization.
 
Why don't we just get all of the other manufacturers to use Apple's cables?

Apple charges other manufacturers $4 per connector on a product for using lightening. This is probably (partly) one reason why headphone jack was removed to cash in on accessories that is using lightning connector.
USB-C is much better in pretty much every aspect, but Apple gets a lot of money for lightning.
 
Standardization.
And if you've not noticed the entire world of name-brand electronics makers have settled on USB-C except for Apple. Which is why the EU is going to require the connector to bring Apple into the fold.
 
Apple charges other manufacturers $4 per connector on a product for using lightening. This is probably (partly) one reason why headphone jack was removed to cash in on accessories that is using lightning connector.
USB-C is much better in pretty much every aspect, but Apple gets a lot of money for lightning.

So what? Don't we want standardization at any cost?
 
And if you've not noticed the entire world of name-brand electronics makers have settled on USB-C except for Apple. Which is why the EU is going to require the connector to bring Apple into the fold.

Who cares about the other companies?

I received a USB-C to Lightning cable with my iPhone 13 mini. So what are these complaints about? Unfortunately I don't have a USB-C charger so I just use one of my USB-A to Lightening cables.
 
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Is this a real question? I feel like you're trolling with these facetious replies.

Yes, it is. Apple does massive volume and changes industry practices with its weight.

But what's your problem? Apple ships a USB-C cable with its phones.
 
Yes, it is. Apple does massive volume and changes industry practices with its weight.

But what's your problem? Apple ships a USB-C cable with its phones.
Because it's not USB 3.0 for starters. When I received my brand new ultra powerful iPhone 13 Pro Max and had to transfer 13,500 songs (all 320 CBR MP3) to it via WiFi or USB 2.0 you can understand it took hours to complete. In-fact I think it took around 8 hours and I'm not exaggerating.

USB-C has lots of uses, not just that I could carry only 1 power brick and charging able with me (MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and iPhone could use the same brick and cable) but I'd get the insanely high transfer speeds when I need it.

I also shoot a lot of video with my iPhone and I'm looking forward to the Pro Res format, I use Final Cut as my editor of choice. You know how long it's going to take to transfer the 50GB to 100GB 4K files off my iPhone to my Mac over USB 2.0 haha I might as-well start it before I go to bed and hope it's done in the morning.

Again the transfer speed is 480Mb/s (33MB/s) vs 10Gb-40Gb (1,250MB/s-5,000MB/s) on USB-C depending on the protocol. The storage in the iPhone is actually very fast, well capable of over 200MB/s as Apple uses good NAND flash a good controller and NVMe as the storage protocol, we could get 10-15x more performance for file transfers if we had USB 3.0 speeds.

The fact is sadly the lightning connector doesn't have enough usable pins for those kinds of speeds like USB-C does. Just like the iPod connector before it, it must go.
 
Because it's not USB 3.0 for starters. When I received my brand new ultra powerful iPhone 13 Pro Max and had to transfer 13,500 songs (all 320 CBR MP3) to it via WiFi or USB 2.0 you can understand it took hours to complete. In-fact I think it took around 8 hours and I'm not exaggerating.

USB-C has lots of uses, not just that I could carry only 1 power brick and charging able with me (MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and iPhone could use the same brick and cable) but I'd get the insanely high transfer speeds when I need it.

I also shoot a lot of video with my iPhone and I'm looking forward to the Pro Res format, I use Final Cut as my editor of choice. You know how long it's going to take to transfer the 50GB to 100GB 4K files off my iPhone to my Mac over USB 2.0 haha I might as-well start it before I go to bed and hope it's done in the morning.

Again the transfer speed is 480Mb/s (33MB/s) vs 10Gb-40Gb (1,250MB/s-5,000MB/s) on USB-C depending on the protocol. The storage in the iPhone is actually very fast, well capable of over 200MB/s as Apple uses good NAND flash a good controller and NVMe as the storage protocol, we could get 10-15x more performance for file transfers if we had USB 3.0 speeds.

The fact is sadly the lightning connector doesn't have enough usable pins for those kinds of speeds like USB-C does. Just like the iPod connector before it, it must go.

Apple makes products that have limitations. If you don't like those limitations, look elsewhere.

Loading your song library is a one-time cost in time. I just hooked up my iPhone to my Mac mini and sync'd and came back later and it was done. I only have about 4K songs but I didn't really care about how long it took. I just plan my activities and do something else if I have to wait for an operation to finish.
 
Apple makes products that have limitations. If you don't like those limitations, look elsewhere.

Loading your song library is a one-time cost in time. I just hooked up my iPhone to my Mac mini and sync'd and came back later and it was done. I only have about 4K songs but I didn't really care about how long it took. I just plan my activities and do something else if I have to wait for an operation to finish.
I see you missed the part about video which I would be doing weekly. The iPhone has the best camera.

And no, Apple should change, not everyone else. They want to make the best products in the world so they should, that means getting rid of lightning for the superior USB-C.
 
I see you missed the part about video which I would be doing weekly. The iPhone has the best camera.

And no, Apple should change, not everyone else. They want to make the best products in the world so they should, that means getting rid of lightning for the superior USB-C.

So you have a choice. Get the best camera or get your own cable or charger.

I'm annoyed that Apple's MacBook Pros don't have USB-A ports. It's an industry standard, lots of devices use it, etc. But it's their hardware and their choice as to whether or not to include their port.

If you don't like their products, buy from someone you do like.
 
So you have a choice. Get the best camera or get your own cable or charger.

I'm annoyed that Apple's MacBook Pros don't have USB-A ports. It's an industry standard, lots of devices use it, etc. But it's their hardware and their choice as to whether or not to include their port.

If you don't like their products, buy from someone you do like.

Nah I'm gonna stick with Apple cause the EU is coming in to force them to use USB-C so it'll get sorted out in my favour just how I want it.
 
Regarding this issue specifically, there are plenty of solutions already. The most obvious being the MafSafe Duo to charge the phone and watch. It's connector is USB-C. Combine that with a single wall wart with at least 2 USB-C ports and the iPad's cable and you have your all-in-one solution. Or use the charger that came with the iPad and charge it during the day and the other two at night.

The MagSafe Duo is £99.99 in the UK though and that’s the stinger. The high price of MagSafe accessories mean i’ll likely never give them the time of day, on top of the already rather expensive mobile phone I’ve purchased. It goes from being an environmentally friendly solution in essence, to a rather over the top solution which is purely profit driven. I’ll just continue to carry the chargers that i have acquired and just accept Apple don’t have a more viable solution for now.

It all seems rather weird for a company to change their iPad range to USB-C away from lightning, but not have the same intent for their iPhones. So already adding a charging solution used throughout the industry, but keep an older method that is defended by some because matching the iPad would cause more waste lol. I guess i’ll never get it, however it’s not causing me any harm or distress either way in the wilderness of first world problems out there.
 
The MagSafe Duo is £99.99 in the UK though and that’s the stinger. The high price of MagSafe accessories mean i’ll likely never give them the time of day, on top of the already rather expensive mobile phone I’ve purchased. It goes from being an environmentally friendly solution in essence, to a rather over the top solution which is purely profit driven. I’ll just continue to carry the chargers that i have acquired and just accept Apple don’t have a more viable solution for now.

It all seems rather weird for a company to change their iPad range to USB-C away from lightning, but not have the same intent for their iPhones. So already adding a charging solution used throughout the industry, but keep an older method that is defended by some because matching the iPad would cause more waste lol. I guess i’ll never get it, however it’s not causing me any harm or distress either way in the wilderness of first world problems out there.

These are all luxury products. My carrier helped out by giving me a $300 discount on my phone so my final price was $420. I actually ordered from Apple for full price and then my carrier sent me an offer so I returned the phone to The Apple Store and picked on up at my carrier. I have not looked into MagSafe as I have Lightning cables around the house and in the car.
 
They did and they got roundly criticized for it. It was nice of them to add an adapter so that I could use some of my 30-pin connectors on Lightening devices. I still do use devices with 30-pin connectors today.

I haven't upgraded my 2015 MacBook Pro because I just use legacy cables. I may have to for M1X but there's a good reason to do so.

If you want a USB-C connector on your phone, get something besides an iPhone and the problem is solved.

If other companies approached Apple on using Lightening, that could work out.

Why would 3/4’s of the smartphone industry approach Apple to use a cable that is inferior to the ones they are already using though? That wouldn’t make any sense and is highly unlikely. If someone wants an Apple phone for the hundreds of other legitimate reasons out there, do you think moving to a new manufacturer would be wise just to have a slightly different, albeit superior cable? I would say as good as the iPhone is and as much as I’ve enjoyed using it for the last 10 years, the cable and connector choices have always been the weak link. I still laugh every time I plug a dongle into the bottom of my iPhone in order to connect a decent set of headphones lol. Apple are the leaders in awkward workarounds.
 
These are all luxury products. My carrier helped out by giving me a $300 discount on my phone so my final price was $420. I actually ordered from Apple for full price and then my carrier sent me an offer so I returned the phone to The Apple Store and picked on up at my carrier. I have not looked into MagSafe as I have Lightning cables around the house and in the car.

No, they are simply consumer products. Luxury products are unattainable by most and offer an exclusive experience. iPhones are expensive, but are popular amongst most demographics and wealth levels in my experience. This doesn’t mean those that can afford them and the accessories that come with them will feel obliged to purchase though.
 
No the last thing we need is some old politician that doesn't know the difference between USB-C and VGA deciding what ports I must have on my iPhone... Just no 🤦‍♂️
 
No, they are simply consumer products. Luxury products are unattainable by most and offer an exclusive experience. iPhones are expensive, but are popular amongst most demographics and wealth levels in my experience. This doesn’t mean those that can afford them and the accessories that come with them will feel obliged to purchase though.

In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending.

Luxury goods are in contrast to necessity goods, where demand increases proportionally less than income.[1] Luxury goods is often used synonymously with superior goods.

Do most people have iPhones?
 
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