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EU wants to force Apple (other manufacturers too) to use USB-C


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EU wants to force Apple (other manufacturers too) to use USB-C
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2021-09-23, 09:13

This is interesting. A foreign entity wants to force US manufacturers to move to USB-C because of e-waste. Cnet did a short article about it but this is the proposal from the Commission's site titled: Pulling the plug on consumer frustration and e-waste: Commission proposes a common charger for electronic devices
Quote:
With today's proposal for a revised Radio Equipment Directive, the charging port and fast charging technology will be harmonised: USB-C will become the standard port for all smartphones, tablets, cameras, headphones, portable speakers and handheld videogame consoles. In addition, the Commission proposes to unbundle the sale of chargers from the sale of electronic devices. This will improve consumers' convenience and reduce the environmental footprint associated with the production and disposal of chargers, thereby supporting the green and digital transitions.
While I personally think Apple should move to the USB-C standard (and think they already are doing so after most iPads moved to it), I think it is a bit of an over stretch to force companies to produce products their way. I mean, the logic of the bureaucrats is noble... if you only look at the surface of the proposal.

Anyway, I think this won't be a problem and will actually result in better battery life for our devices because the USB-C port is slightly larger than a lightning port. Hopefully that would mean slightly thicker phone with more space being filled with batteries.

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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2021-09-23, 09:19

I figure they'd rather find a way to go portless, but that might cause another round of problems, huh?
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2021-09-23, 09:21

If for no other reason than diagnostics there will likely always be a port. Heck, I think the Watch even has a "hidden" port where the bands connect.
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chucker
 
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2021-09-23, 09:31

Yeah, Gruber's theory is that they'll go straight to portless rather than USB-C. Maybe.

At this point, the "waste" argument is a bit silly. If Apple were to move to USB-C, that would also produce waste: by their very argument, those who have been in the iPhone ecosystem for years and years (which is a ton of people) would all need to get new cables.

The other problem with such regulation is that it takes a long time to modernize it. The EU has been at the "standardize phone ports" thing for a long time, and when they started, it wasn't for USB-C but rather micro-USB. Had they succeeded at the time, we might be in a bizarro world where European phones have to feature a micro-USB port while other countries get the much nicer Lightning or USB-C port.

I think the intent is noble, but I also think this is mostly a non-issue.

Incidentally, Apple has already done one of their key points:

Quote:
Unbundling the sale of a charger from the sale of the electronic device: consumers will be able to purchase a new electronic device without a new charger. This will limit the number of unwanted chargers purchased or left unused.
But I don't think it's that great. I also think they did it at a particularly dumb time. Why not wait a few years for most iPhone chargers to move from USB-A/Lightning to USB-C/Lightning?

Really, if Apple wants the cake (the margin) and to eat it, too (say it's for the environment), just add it as a purchase option, but discounted. Give iPhone buyers $10 towards a charger. If they don't want/need one, great. If they do, it won't cost full price.
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chucker
 
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2021-09-23, 09:35

Quote:
Originally Posted by turtle View Post
If for no other reason than diagnostics there will likely always be a port. Heck, I think the Watch even has a "hidden" port where the bands connect.
Yup. Seems to be a micro-Lightning kind of port (albeit with fewer pins). Given the right dongle, you can get iTunes to recognize the Watch as a device.

Supposedly, Apple employees making Watch software have a hardware contraption where they can physically connect the Watch to the Mac in such a way that it works with Xcode, too. It's a bummer (and strange) that Apple won't let third parties do this; some of the more prolific devs have said that they'd happily pay hundreds more for an Apple Watch Developer Edition that makes testing easier. Right now, you have to hook up Xcode to the iPhone, and the iPhone in turn needs to wirelessly transfer to the Watch, and that in turn then opens a debugger session. It's a miracle that it works at all, and frankly? It often doesn't. And if it's true that Apple's own staff doesn't even use this byzantine approach, that's just silly.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2021-09-23, 09:45

Maybe they go with the no port thing but do it like the iPad with the three contact points. That would work since it would be a serial connection and that is all that is needed. We would have to have special docks to "wire" up our phones though, this would surely piss of the EU people.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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chucker
 
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2021-09-23, 09:56

Quote:
Originally Posted by turtle View Post
Maybe they go with the no port thing but do it like the iPad with the three contact points. That would work since it would be a serial connection and that is all that is needed. We would have to have special docks to "wire" up our phones though, this would surely piss of the EU people.
Maybe.

I find it curious that they designed MagSafe and then… didn't provide any data passthrough.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2021-09-23, 09:57

My guess, integrity of the glass back putting holes in it. Just a guess though.

Really, they could put it on the bottom where the port is now and just have a cradle setup. Magnets even so aligning would be a "snap".

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2021-10-12, 07:56

Looks like it can be done.

This was an iPhone X but still. The fact that this guy actually did it is pretty impressive.
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