If "regulations" have to change as soon as every new type of cable or port are invented then there was no point to the regulation. It's just government being stupid and trying to distract you from how much they are failing where it matters. Give Stalmer 10 quid and a Taylor Swift ticket and his government will probably shut up about cables. Maybe Rishi was even cheaper to buy.
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UK Considers Adopting USB-C as Common Charging Standard
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If "regulations" have to change as soon as every new type of cable or port are invented then there was no point to the regulation. It's just government being stupid and trying to distract you from how much they are failing where it matters. Give Stalmer 10 quid and a Taylor Swift ticket and his government will probably shut up about cables. Maybe Rishi was even cheaper to buy.
Good thing the all knowing wizards of the EU didn't ban the 6 different port types that all PC motherboards ship with
Speaking of which the EU tried to force PC (including Apple) makers to limit the size of their PSUs to something like 500 watts. Some say this was the reason why the Mac Pro 6,1 ended up being such a let down. The regulation went nowhere and the Mac Pro ended up thermally cornered.
That's over reading my statement. Not implying at all that regulations need to change as soon as new cable comes out.
The bigger issue is "will any company spend millions of dollars to try to innovate connectors if there is no guarantee the EU/other governments will sign off on it?" And pretty sure there answer there is no.
Unfortunately still a common problem with some cheap gadgets. Those devices are missing a resistor that is clearly required by the USB-C spec. It helps the charger to recognize that it's connected to a proper power sink.
Nowadays, I test all new gadgets to see if they charge on a USB-C charger. If it doesn't, I will return it.
USB-PD is not negotiated over the data lines. It uses a dedicated CC line that is not used for data transmission. So technically you can have a USB cable that does not even support USB 2. But I think this is not very common.
That's not the government's job, it's the importer's job and if you buy from some web site like Alibaba, you are the importer.
Is it true that the new iPad mini, that comes sans charger, is lower in price?
Hence the reason the UK quietly falls in line with the EU, while going through the motions of pretending it actually determined this on its own initiative, to keep the Brexit fans happy.
Thanks for your analysis but it's all wrong. The government consultation linked in the article openly says "So the EU did this thing, should we follow or do something else or do nothing?" The architects of Brexit are gone from the UK government, and in the UK population only the 65+ age group still believes Brexit was a good idea. There's very little chance of electronic charging standards waking Brexiters from their nap.
The usual UK government U-turn. It stated in 2022 that it would not copy the EU
www.bbc.co.uk
2 years later the UK government are now thinking about it.
UK will not copy EU demand for common charging cable
The EU has provisionally agreed new mobile devices must, by autumn 2024, use the same type of charger.
www.bbc.co.uk
2 years later the UK government are now thinking about it.
Bureaucracy feeds on laws and regulations, their survival depends on them.
The more laws(and regulations) you have, the more bigger bureaucracy(bigger government) you’ll have and vice versa. It’s a vicious cycle.
Same is happening in the EU.
Oh I miss Milton Friedman.
P.S. Currently Labour is in power in the UK and theoretically they strive for big government.
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Mine chargers on USB-C as well as Magsafe, a configuration that is compliant with EU directives.
These rules are not just for £1000 iPhones that need smart charging - they're also for £15 wireless keyboards sold on Amazon... and potentially any rechargeable device in the future. If a Chinese manufacturer can save 5p per unit by throwing in a cheaper barrel connector and dump a few container-loads of units to non-common-charger countries, they probably will. Does the UK want to be in that club?
Sure, some power adapters are standard units with interchangeable plug heads. However, I draw your attention to Apple's basic 20W USB-C UK power adapter (which is what they'd sell alongside iPhones or iPads, so highly relevant here) which is a completely different design to the US and EU equivalent. I've had Google and Samsung adapters which, likewise, were built around a folding UK plug rather than a generic design. I've got plenty of UK-specific wall-warts for cheaper products that are built around UK plugs. So, yes, it would be feasible for the UK to have slightly stricter rules for USB-C chargers. As I said, my main beef with the EU rules is that they allow chargers with captive cables (which are the bits that can get damaged) - it would be feasible for the UK to require that chargers have sockets.
The UK could also quite feasibly set its own rules on whether "adapter unbundling" was allowed/required/forbidden and how that should be described on packaging. Also - I repeat my point that, without UK rules, nag screens complaining about third-party chargers could very easily be enabled in the UK alongside £ signs and U's in "colour"...
Again, this is not just about whether devices have a USB-C connector or not.
Well, yes, that's a reasonable opinion but that's the point of having a consultation: public transport vehicles with USB-A - unlike current smartphone models - are going to be around for 10-20 years, so should we require retrofitting? I'm not sure that the EU regs even extend to charging outlets on new vehicles etc. but the UK could feasibly require that, if we chose.
The EU directive applies to every phone/mobile/laptop manufacturer. It's just that Apple were the only one kicking and screaming about giving up their proprietary connector... even though (a) Lightning was coming to the end of its life as iPad etc. added support for USB4/Thunderbolt and external 4k+ displays, and (b) Apple were one of the contributors to the USB-C standard and had already decided it was the way forward with laptops...
Frankly - I think Apple were just briar-patching because they needed to switch to USB-C anyway and knew their users would complain about that (just as when they dropped the 30 pin connector for Lightning) - the EU's most effective role has always been as a blame sink.
Honestly, what wonderful new innovative ways to charge a battery with a bit of wire are likely to be waiting in the wings?
These directives don't apply to wireless charging, wireless data or any other device that isn't charged via a wire, they don't apply to devices that need more power than USB PD can provide (although that's now 240W) and don't forbid devices having additional ports for charging or data. This isn't - for example - going to force Apple to remove MagSafe from the MBP as long as it can still charge via USB-C.
Almost entirely agree. Apple were surely just about to go USB-C on phones anyway!
I think there might be some reasons to consider some features such as connecting a device which needs to be 100% waterproof. I'd be 100% delighted to see the "traditional" bathroom razor sockets disappear and be replaced by USB-C. But if we do that, we might need to consider wet environment connections. Possibly a water-proofed Qi charger would be a reasonable approach for power? Both for safety and to actually make it work when wet.
And I'm sure there will be other special-use cases.
Oh come on....Exactly timed so they complied with EU regulation + the "We have to comply, we have no choice" comment in 2022. You really think Apple would not have tried to milk the lightning connector for at least a few more years? Dragging their feet on replacing their aging and slow connector, while screaming "this stiffles innovation", not noticing the irony of it...
Well no... 2018 iPad Pro has the first USB-C.
The lighting port was launched in 2012 and Phil Schiller unveiled the lightning cable (1min) as the “modern connector for the next decade” - that how long they expected it to last and it made it 2 years longer. At the time it was much better than Mini and Micro USB.
At the time they need a connector that didn't exist so they made one.
Then Apple, Intel, and HP were the key designers of the USB-C spec which started in 2012 and came out in 2014.
They obviously did have the sales reason to keep them going... BUT they gave them with every device so the cynical reason to sell more only Kinda works... I've probably got 20 of them since the iPhone 5 and iPads. I've only ever bought a few crazy long ones 3m/5m. I bet their cable sale aren't even in the million dollar range. transformers might well be. The MFI label was actually needed for these cables... the fake ones chuck out spiked power the proper chips and MFI had 2 small power chips in the connector!
Now with the e-waste initiative it makes sense to standardise everything.
but the main reason they swapped... lightning is only capable of 18w - USB-C does 60w as standard or 100w or even 240w with the right spec cable. 30w in iPad. iPhone 16 45w ( PD standard ) - I'd love to know if the android drives with 65 watt charging have battery longevity, I suspect they don't care if it last the the warranty.
My mother in law has held off on upgrading her phone for two years now because she doesn't want to change cables. That's who Apple was trying to placate here. Maybe you forgot (or weren't around for) the outrage that happened when Apple switched to Lightening, which was a demonstrably better solution than the 30 pin connector; USB-C is a slight improvement at best. But it was clear Apple was moving in the USB-C direction; at best the EU moved up the timeline a couple of years.
And yes, this absolutely stifles innovation. Why would Apple or Samsung or anyone invest significant resources in making a better connector if they have to convince their competitors AND the EU to accept it - and if they don't then the millions of dollars spent is wasted. There is literally no need to regulate something like this. It's nanny state protectionism at its finest.
If something needs to be 100% waterproof then wireless charging is obviously the best way to go. The current EU rules don't apply to wireless.
(NB: this is only relevant to countries that have special 'shaver only' 2-pin 240/110V current-limited razor sockets in bathroom areas where regular mains sockets would be illegal).
Bathroom razor sockets should be redundant by now - they appeared when razors ran directly off the mains, didn't have batteries (and usually had to be manually switched between 240V and 110V if you travelled to or from 'foreign parts').
These days, 99.9% of razors, clippers, electric toothbrushes etc. will run for a week off their rechargeable batteries. No need to charge them in the bathroom, at least not in the "splash zone". In fact, when you charge them in the bedroom, it's a pain to need a 2- to 3-pin adapter.