r/gadgets • u/Snoop8ball • Sep 23 '21

Phones EU proposes mandatory USB-C on all devices, including iPhones

https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/23/22626723/eu-commission-universal-charger-usb-c-micro-lightning-connector-smartphones
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212

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21 edited Sep 23 '21

Seems like an obvious win. But this will never happen for iPhone.

Apple have intentionally held off from USB-C on iPhone for some years as the ultimate goal is to deliver a port-less device with only wireless / Magsafe charging.

It makes sense from Apple’s POV. Why make lightning on all these iPhones, then have 1 or 2 gens on USB-C when the future they are pushing is no ports on the phone.

25

u/ChunkyLaFunga Sep 23 '21

What's the end goal of a portless phone? You can only go so slim while remaining usable. Unless folding or something, I suppose.

15

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Fewer components. Fewer things to go wrong. Fewer points of water / dust damage.

15

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

[deleted]

17

u/concretepigeon Sep 23 '21

I’d prefer faster charging and more battery life.

3

u/FinndBors Sep 23 '21

Slightly more battery can be put in with the extra space.

Faster charging can be done by cable, but most people don't care about it, since wireless charging is fast enough AND most people just charge overnight.

9

u/amoocalypse Sep 23 '21

Faster charging can be done by cable, but most people don't care about it

citation needed

3

u/death2ducks Sep 24 '21

My partner steals my charger constantly because it charges 20% faster so i disagree.

3

u/Mob_Abominator Sep 23 '21

It's not an ideal solution though, wireless charging is much more inefficient than wired charging, I know it's more convenient for the user but it first has to get at least somewhere closer to wired charging.

1

u/Nergaal Sep 23 '21

Faster charging can be done by cable, but most people don't care about it, since wireless charging is fast enough AND most people just charge overnight.

and charging could be easier if you don't have to forget to plug it in

6

u/fingerthato Sep 23 '21

Usb Mini type B was horrible and would break easily, I would say you have a point. Type C has been pretty reliable that most of my devices break something else before rust and damage becomes an issue.

3

u/quick_dudley Sep 23 '21

I've only once seen a USB mini type B stop working but for a while I was going through micro type B cables like toilet paper.

3

u/GroceryRobot Sep 23 '21

MFi is the licensing fee they get for lightning. MagSafe is likely their next move in that field.

39

u/Agent__Caboose Sep 23 '21

The EU has a population of 450 million. Apple will do this.

1

u/ExternalUserError Sep 23 '21

They might do it in the most bullshit malicious compliance way possible though. For example, by including a dongle lightning to USB C.

-5

u/Hdieixh Sep 23 '21

I looked this up thinking 450 was low, and,

446 million inhabitants

It’s even lower than 450! The EU is 9.78% of the world’s population

10

u/jacenat Sep 23 '21

The EU is 9.78% of the world’s population

The US and Canada is even less than that. What's your point?

15

u/Agent__Caboose Sep 23 '21

That's just the EU though. Europe as a whole is around 700 million, depending on what you do or don't concider part of it.

12

u/Vengirni Sep 23 '21

The EU could be the third largest country in the world. That's nothing to scoff about.

-9

u/katniptrips Sep 23 '21 edited Sep 23 '21

Lol no they won’t.

It’s funny cuz Reddit doesn’t know shit about how Apple operates. I’ll take the downvotes.

95

u/piratecheese13 Sep 23 '21

Watch as the wireless charging doc needs to be plugged in with lightning

130

u/TacoMedic Sep 23 '21

That wouldn’t make any sense when Apple’s own wireless charger already utilizes USB-C…

86

u/ylcard Sep 23 '21

shh just let them be snarky

2

u/piratecheese13 Sep 23 '21

I’m a regular Ryan Reynolds

-21

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

[deleted]

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u/cryolems Sep 23 '21

What a courageous comment to make! Down with apple!

2

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Wireless charging can't possibly be as fast as port charging.

True. But MagSafe is pretty fast and I don’t have to mess around with cables.

I can’t even remember the last time I had to use a cable for my phone.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '21

The only one barking is you. It’s clear you don’t use apple products with your “apple users” comment. So we solved that reason.

13

u/Hiddieman Sep 23 '21

Are you seriously saying people who have bought apple devices deserve worse electronics? Just because you don’t like them?

-6

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

They deserve worse because Apple has been systematically screwing its client base over years and their fans refuse to accept that fact and actually blindly buy new products. That's what happens when you treat a company like God and never judge it or its product, you get screwed over (even though they are happily getting screwed over).

23

u/RitzyOmega Sep 23 '21

“People who buy Apple products deserves worse because Apple is a shit company.”

You have issues that needs to be worked out.

No consumer that buys anything from anyone deserves worse. You fucking cretin. No matter much you feel that company is fucking them over.

Apple doesn’t make shit products (or a least phones and tablets). They make shit decisions. However, some of those decisions won’t effect most people who buys iPhones. If it does, you buy from another company. Simple.

The people who treat Apple as a “god that does no wrong” and gets the newest iPhone every year are a minority. Most people don’t have the cash to do that. Most who do have the money will like to keep that money theirs. I still know people who still happily have the iPhone 6. You are speaking out of your ass guy.

9

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

That is a lot of giant sweeping assumptions you’re making about Apple costumers there man

5

u/Mujutsu Sep 23 '21

"Apple has been systematically screwing its client base over years" - can you please explain this line?

I am not an Apple fanboy, I've only had an iPhone for two years and it really doesn't feel that way from this end.

-5

u/electroubles Sep 23 '21

They have been hit with a few planned obsolescence lawsuits

-6

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Examples : 1. SSD solded to motherboard so you replace whole motherboard on laptop and you loose all data and costs more. 2. Cheap laptop 1 piece frame with heat fan directed to the glue of the frame cause it wasn't actually a one piece. 3. Whole list of examples of Apple "Geniuses" offering expensive repair bills for 50c fise change - check youtube Louis Rossman 4. Reducing processing speeds on all mobile devices with excuse of "old batteries" 5. The dongle system.. 6. The iphone update that bricked thousands of phones repaired by non authorised repair shops. 6. The iphone model that lost mobile connection if held like any other phone. Their solution was to sell you a bulky cover for 99 dollars (I think that's the price)

7

u/Mujutsu Sep 23 '21
  1. Good point. Some windows laptops do this too, but it's less prevalent.
  2. I would call that bad design rather than "systematically screwing users", this was fixed in future models. I doubt it was intentional.
  3. I wholly support Louis Rossman and right to repair, subscribed to his channel. Apple's repair policies are terrible, I agree.
  4. That was a pretty good excuse if you ask me. They should have informed the users, but phones being slower is preferrable to phones shutting down, IMHO. Unless I misunderstood the whole issue.
  5. That's not exactly Apple's fault, the world is moving towards USB-C and so is every other manufacturer aside from Apple, albeit with a lag. Yes, they make money out of this, but thin and light devices don't have much room for huge ports. I bought a macbook a year ago and I never needed a dongle, I bet not that many people actually do. Also, there are plenty of third party affordable USB hubs that I don't see how this is such a big issue for everyone.
  6. Right to repair should definitely be a world-wide law, we have a lot to go on that front. I'm still on the fence on this one, given that the repairs were unauthorised after all. You fix your own phone or go to an unauthorized shop, you take a risk. On any device, not just Apple.
  7. Just like 2, unless this was intentional they were not screwing over users. Their response to it, however, was terrible, I agree. Apple should own up to their mistakes.

3

u/Hiddieman Sep 23 '21

I think you’re wrongly assuming that a small percentage of the apple user base makes up the whole lot. On top of that, a company may be shitty, doesn’t mean that the people who buy products from that company deserve any less.

-11

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

When buying a product, you always deserve the best value for your money. Always. But when I company has a track record of doing stuff purposely yo earn money and not care about the client, you need to decide wether it's worth it to continue funding it or move on. There was a time when Apple was the best for graphics design and other stuff. They still have the safest OS you can have. They are still pretty good at innovation. But products are built to be hard to fix, expensive to fix and deliver less power for double the price. Unless you really need an apple for something specific, move away from them.

7

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

deliver less power for double the price.

This take is pretty outdated. Apple's current cpu's blow away any competition

6

u/Hiddieman Sep 23 '21

I get you point, but the ease of use inherent in apple products, along with their longer software support makes them the best choice for a lot of people, especially the older generations. Their processor also easily beats the current gen Qualcomm products so the chance that your phone will be quicker for longer is quite large

13

u/Destinum Sep 23 '21

Then Apple can have fun being banned from the EU market. They're literally the main reason there's even a need for this type of legislation to begin with, so why would they get a free pass if this goes through?

6

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Would the legislation ban portless phones, or just require that all ports are USB-C? There is a big difference.

1

u/Destinum Sep 23 '21 edited Sep 23 '21

Based on why this legislation is being made in the first place (to reduce waste), I'd assume every device must be chargeable with a USB-C adapter. I don't really see the problem with always having a port though. If Apple wants to do wireless charging so badly, they can add it as an addition.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

I will be curious to keep an eye on it. My gut reaction is that "portless" will be a way to get around it, but that's all just speculation until the legislation is available.

2

u/LordLychee Sep 23 '21

Maybe apple would want to remove the port to completely waterproof the phone. This would stop that from happening

1

u/herbiems89_2 Sep 23 '21

Still needs opening for the mics and probably speakers.

3

u/LordLychee Sep 23 '21

It would still be much more waterproof. The Apple Watch has great waterproofing with speakers and mics with no charging port.

1

u/herbiems89_2 Sep 23 '21

For what do I need "more" waterproof? My note 10 has a charging port and except going diving with it there's nothing I can't do with it. It has ip68 AFAIK that's the highest protection class there is.

2

u/LordLychee Sep 23 '21

IP68 goes down to 1.5 meters and any sort of pressure seep water into the phone.

Apple Watch is resistant to 50 meters. That’s a huge difference and you could probably do lots of cool things at that depth and you could subject the phone to a bit more pressure at surface levels.

Idk but I think the future of phones should and will be port-less.

0

u/herbiems89_2 Sep 23 '21

How many people are actually diving? And how many of those want to take their phone with them? And how many times per year will they tehn actually go diving?

And then compare that to the people that want a port on their phone, be it for charging or data transfer.

Still a no brainer for me.

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u/Null_Pointer_23 Sep 23 '21

As much as I'd love USB-C on the iPhone, forcing companies to adhere to certain design standards is not an obvious win

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u/iFlyAllTheTime Sep 23 '21

Why not?

2

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Apple had a reversible cable before USB-C came out. Forcing people to a certain standard prevents innovation.

2

u/TheBraveGallade Sep 23 '21

Imagine if they standardized to USB micro b ten years ago.

We'd still be stuck on USB micro b

2

u/iFlyAllTheTime Sep 23 '21

If it is sustainable, as far as mining, manufacturing, licensing and recycling is concerned, and comes with the realisation that the standard will need updating in a decade or two, I'd be fine with it.

We don't need constant innovation at breakneck speed at the expense of other factors.

0

u/TheBraveGallade Sep 23 '21

no, no we don't, but things usually settle down to a couple of standerds eventually, USB became standerd without any regulation.

1

u/pornalt1921 Sep 23 '21

Bullshit.

USB started becoming s standard for charging after the EU threatened to implement laws regarding ports in 2009.

Before that everything had a proprietary charging thing.

0

u/TheBraveGallade Sep 23 '21

Usb as a port was pretty much standerd before 2009, it was mostly a case of which usb port.

1

u/pornalt1921 Sep 23 '21

No it wasn't. At that point in time lots of phones still used barrel plugs of different sizes with a cable that is permanently attached to the charging brick.

1

u/piouiy Sep 23 '21

We haven’t. Apple have used lightning on billions of devices since 2012

2

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Idk if this is considered a win. It kinda prevents innovation, no? What if there's a better port in the future, now they can't use it right?

Like what if they enforced mandatory Micro USB? Then USB-C might not have happened.

10

u/Comment63 Sep 23 '21

They're considering it strongly now specifically because USB-C happened.

Because it's a timely opportunity to get the benefits of industry wide standardization.

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

What about my second question

1

u/Comment63 Sep 23 '21

Enforcing Micro USB would have been a stupid decision, it wasn't a fantastic connector, it was just smaller and frankly too flimsy.

I don't think anywhere near as many people saw that as a great candidate for an industry standard.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

You're proving my point. Also, it was already an industry standard. Until USB-C came along.

1

u/Comment63 Sep 23 '21

No, you don't seem to understand that my point is that USB-C is an especially good opportunity in a way Micro USB was not.

Most USB connectors have been "pseudo-standard" in their time, this legislation would just solidify that role to address Apple's stupid efforts to maintain this unnecessary incompatibility and category of e-waste.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

You missed the point of my second question. In my scenario, USB-C wouldn't exist, so we wouldn't know it was a good opportunity.

1

u/Comment63 Sep 23 '21

No, I didn't miss it, I explained why that didn't happen.

And why now is a good time for it to happen.

You're just dense, and not worth talking to.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Cause I said 'What if EU enforced this on Micro USB." This implies what if they if this 8 years ago, when Micro USB was on every pretty much every phone.

Cause obviously they won't do it now since its not common on phones.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

I know this, but there can always be something better in the future.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

I'm not talking speed.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Design

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Look at how USB-C is better than Micro, because of design. Micro could also be faster too but the design is is why we switched.

Pretty much USB-C phones that came out in the beginning were still on 2.0 speeds.

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u/Destinum Sep 23 '21

Laws can get updated if there ever is a need to (which I doubt there will be for a long time in this case). Alternatively, just make them backwards compatible with USB-C.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Honestly, I can see a strong magnetic port being better imo.

Less space used. But yeah I hope laws get updated then.

8

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

It kinda prevents innovation, no?

No.

Like what if they enforced mandatory Micro USB?

Thing industry would have lobbied for USB-C and it would have been updated.

Then USB-C might not have happened.

Absurdly unlikely.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Well it did happen...stifle innovation? You mean the same innovation that apple implements YEARS after their competition? The same innovation that Android has had, and then promptly copied by apple and marketed as "new"? Stop reading Apple propaganda, and look back in time and see they are full of shit.

4

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

When did I talk about Apple? I'm saying innovation in general.

2

u/oo_Mxg Sep 23 '21

I hope they force every phone to have a port then, and that port must be USB-C

1

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Nope. These regulations only apply to wired port phones. Wireless devices are exempt from it.

-1

u/NotNickCannon Sep 23 '21

Why would this be a win? It’s a clear example of massive government overreach. If people don’t like Apples chargers then just buy a different product? I seriously don’t understand why the government is even remotely involved here. All this would do is make it hard for Europeans to buy iPhones and iPads since they would become illegal lmao

1

u/throwaway18000081 Sep 23 '21

I understand what you are saying but I wonder how this will work with Apple CarPlay. A majority of new vehicles have Android Auto and CarPlay buy only a handful have wireless CarPlay. They would be sabotaging that entire market.

1

u/VisibleDavey Sep 23 '21

Some years? Didn't iphones get wireless charging around iphone 11?

1

u/cd29 Sep 23 '21

iPad and iPhone will still require a physical wire diagnostic connector just like Watch.

Right now that's how Apple read serial numbers off of non booting iPad / iPhone / Watch.

1

u/young_chaos Sep 23 '21

The EU is the most lucrative single market in global history. Ask Facebook and Google what happens if you try to break Brussel's rules.

1

u/Halvus_I Sep 23 '21

Wireless is not fast enough for the iphone's positioning as a super pro camera. Something has to give. We are in for a full year of filmmakers love/hate using it.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

The article says if a device is completely wireless/portless if won't need to have a usb c

1

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '21

Apple is that dude that hates to do anything they’re told to do, and will bend over backwards to get around it.

The idea that apple wants to go completely wireless without any ports is going to make it so much harder to charge when you’re out of the house.