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

[Supportafrika]

This is a great news for users, I guess for developers not so good news as discourages new developments so I think.

[chaplic]

Standardisation when a technology is mature benefits the consumer, otherwise let the market fight it out… is USB C mature? I’m not sure how much further a low voltage data cable can go, but then again I though 640kb was enough..

[paulkerton]

The thing is, the only reason we still really use cables for smart phones is charging, and wireless charging is quickly catching up.

So, the idea that we are going to need innovations like a USB-D when USB-C is already capable of 10Gbps transfer rates and 240W of power delivery right now seems to me to be a little bit of drama for drama's sake.

 

Standardisation is a good thing for everyone.

[Arthur]

It will be interesting to see whether non-EU iPhones will keep the Lightning connector.

 

Apple confirms the iPhone is getting USB-C, but isn’t happy about the reason why

 

Apple has given its most direct confirmation yet that a USB-C-equipped iPhone is coming now that the European Union is mandating that all phones sold in its member countries use the connector if they have a physical charger. When asked by The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern if the company would be replacing Lighting, Apple marketing lead Greg Joswiak answered by saying: “obviously we’ll have to comply, we have no choice.”

 

Stern brought the law up during a talk with Joswiak and software VP Craig Federighi at the WSJ’s Tech Live conference, and followed up by asking when we could expect to see USB-C on an iPhone. Joswiak replied by saying that “the Europeans are the ones dictating timing for European customers.” Currently, the law dictates that “all mobile phones and tablets” will have to use USB-C by “autumn 2024.” Joswiak refused to answer whether the company would include the connector on phones sold outside the EU.

 

But he made it abundantly clear that Apple isn’t happy about being legally coerced into making the switch. Before acknowledging that the company must comply with the law, Joswiak went into a long explanation about how Apple has historically preferred to go its own way and trust its engineers rather than be forced into adopting hardware standards by lawmakers. He cited examples around Micro USB and hearing aid compliance as situations where Apple has been pushed to meet ill-considered requirements.

[Dos_Box]

Hmm, region locked iPhones could be a possibility then.

[southhamster]

This cartoon made me laugh, but did remind me of all the extinct chargers out there still.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2022/oct/08/new-usb-law-oh-well-its-just-another-old-phone-charger-for-the-drawer-stephen-collins-cartoon?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

[Arthur]

USB 2.0!

 

Apple Reportedly Planning to Limit iPhone 15's USB-C Port in the Same Way as Lightning

 

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro's USB-C port and accompanying charging cables will feature a Lightning-like authenticator chip, potentially limiting their functionality with Apple-unapproved accessories, a rumour shared on Weibo suggests.

 

The rumour declares that Apple has developed its own variant of USB-C for this year's iPhone 15 lineup and comes from a user who claims to be an integrated circuit expert with 25 years of experience working on Intel's Pentium processors.

 

Integrated circuit (IC) interfaces are semiconductor chips used to manage the sharing of information between devices. Since their introduction in 2012, first-party and MFi-certified Lightning ports and connectors contain a small IC that confirms the authenticity of the parts involved in the connection. Non-MFi-certified third-party charging cables, for example, do not feature this chip, often leading to "This accessory is not supported" warnings on connected Apple devices.

 

The authenticator chip allows Apple to encourage customers to buy genuine iPhone peripherals and receive a commission on MFi-certified accessories, but it also allows Apple to tackle counterfeit and potentially dangerous accessories.

 

The latest rumour seems to suggest that Apple has developed a similar custom IC for the USB-C ports on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, and presumably its charging cables. As well as the iPhone 15 lineup, the new IC is apparently destined for new MFi-certified peripherals.

 

It is worth noting that the USB-C interface currently used by Apple in the 10th-generation iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro, do not contain an IC chip for authentication, meaning that this would be a first for ports of this kind offered by the company.

 

It is unclear if this addition could have any major implications for the functionality of the new devices, but it is possible that Apple could limit features like fast charging and high-speed data transfer to Apple and MFi-certified cables.

 

According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the USB-C port on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will remain limited to USB 2.0 speeds – the same as Lightning. Only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models will apparently get faster charging speeds. As a result, the only major difference between Lightning and USB-C on the standard iPhone 15 models could simply be the physical shape of the connector.

 

The report is particularly believable since this would effectively mirror the split between the entry-level iPad and the iPad Pro. While both iPad models feature a USB-C port, the 10th-generation iPad is limited to USB 2.0 speeds of up to 480 Mbps, while the iPad Pro offers fully fledged Thunderbolt speeds up to 40 Gbps.

[Cw2k]

Quite common for USB C phones to be only USB 2.0. For example the latest OnePlus phone is only 2.0.

[nicholab]

USB 2.0! [emoji20]

 

Apple Reportedly Planning to Limit iPhone 15's USB-C Port in the Same Way as Lightning

 

Why does Apple have this opposition to you being able to charge your phone with your own cable?

 

I mean I know the £25 cable is so amazing I want to buy it instead of food!

[XiJ]

I’m happy to spend £7 on a cable knowing it’s good quality, won’t damage my phone etc etc.

[GrumbleDook]

Why does Apple have this opposition to you being able to charge your phone with your own cable?

 

I mean I know the £25 cable is so amazing I want to buy it instead of food!

 

Having had a fake cable and charger burn up on me, I am happy that this is a step to be taken.

 

Having also dealt with the fall out of other electrical fires in my days in the forces, I can't understand why people would question this approach.

[DrCheese]

Having had a fake cable and charger burn up on me, I am happy that this is a step to be taken.

 

Having also dealt with the fall out of other electrical fires in my days in the forces, I can't understand why people would question this approach.

 

Yeah I can't blame Apple (or any OEM that does this) really - Given that the press will run with "iPhone charger burns down house, kills 3" without actually doing any research it's needed to protect their brand & their consumers.

 

You just don't screw about with electrical safety

[nicholab]

Do people feel that £25 for a cable is reasonable? If that was the charger as well I would understand.

 

Mandating this standard will mean that reasonable quality cables and charges will be available for a fair price.

Edited February 15, 2023 by nicholab

[DalekSec]

Do people feel that £25 for a cable is reasonable? If that was the charger as well I would understand.

 

Mandating this standard will mean that reasonable quality cables and charges will be available for a fair price.

 

Unsure where you're getting £25 from, it's £19 where i look. Which i agree is still pricy. I tend to go for wireless charging now anyway, which is more money but i think justifies it a bit more!

[jmak]

Do people feel that £25 for a cable is reasonable? If that was the charger as well I would understand.

 

Mandating this standard will mean that reasonable quality cables and charges will be available for a fair price.

£25 is ridiculous. It's so high that there'll be a black market of fakes.

[Garacesh]

There's already plenty of dodgy randobrand chargers with questionable-at-best electrical safety floating around Amazon, eBay et al.. I don't think Apple will make it much worse even with £19 chargers Edited February 15, 2023 by Garacesh

[Norphy]

£25 is ridiculous. It's so high that there'll be a black market of fakes.

 

Or there will be third party suppliers, such as Anker, Amazon and Monoprice, who have or will get MFi certification and sell cheaper certified cables for a lot less. You know, like they do with Lightning cables at the moment.

 

I agree to an extent that it's a method of extracting as much money from your customer as possible, but certification of accessories isn't necessarily a bad thing either as we've all seen how dangerous knockoffs can be.

[Dos_Box]

Or there will be third party suppliers, such as Anker, Amazon and Monoprice, who have or will get MFi certification and sell cheaper certified cables for a lot less. You know, like they do with Lightning cables at the moment.

 

I agree to an extent that it's a method of extracting as much money from your customer as possible, but certification of accessories isn't necessarily a bad thing either as we've all seen how dangerous knockoffs can be.

 

I think we've also seen a lot of 'If you don't buy our acessories, your house will be struck with the wrath of the lightning gods and reduced to a smouldering heap' from various manufacturers in the past too.

It is good advice to not skimp when buying electrical accessories though, and I always have a good look around when it comes to things like buying a replacement laptop charger etc.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Dos_Box

[Norphy]

I think we've also seen a lot of 'If you don't buy our acessories, your house will be struck with the wrath of the lightning gods and reduced to a smouldering heap' from various manufactureres in the past too.

It is good advice to not skimp when buying electrical accessories though, and I always have a good look around when it comes to things like buying a replacement laptop charger etc.

 

Absolutely, but getting from a certified third party manufacturer is a good middle ground. That way, you can have a reasonable assurance that it won't burn your house down but don't have to pay the eye watering prices of the first party OEM.

[nicholab]

Right to repair is very important and discussing that some manufacturers did not support it. Why are the people running these companies so stupid have they not needed to repair something. Why is it easy to get the parts to repair my lawn mower than my phone? Which was more expensive?

 

Why have phone speakers and batteries been serialised? These are the most common parts that need changing?

[XiJ]

I’m an Apple fan in general. I think Apple brand cables are over priced. But I’m happy paying for an Mfi certified cable and they’re less than a tenner. Anker or Ugreen are my go to.

 

Your £25 is just inaccurate media-style hype.

 

Would you buy a £10 psu for your laptop / desktop ?

[GrumbleDook]

Right to repair is very important and discussing that some manufacturers did not support it. Why are the people running these companies so stupid have they not needed to repair something. Why is it easy to get the parts to repair my lawn mower than my phone? Which was more expensive?

 

Why have phone speakers and batteries been serialised? These are the most common parts that need changing?

 

Right to repair is an interesting one. In principle, designing technology to have a set amount of customer manageable areas is a positive thing, up until that allows for more things to be fiddled with and broken.

With greater flexibility on repair comes greater chance of other things being cocked up. Why is it easier to fix a mechanical item over an electrical item? Complexity and safety usually. Why is it easier to fix an electrical item over an electronic item? Same applies.

It tend to view it through the eyes of patents. The more there are, the less likely they are to be be considered 'consumable'/customer repairable.

[DrCheese]

My feelings on right to repair are not so much that I as the end user can fix them - More that I can take it to a repair shop (or have an engineer visit) who can fit proper OEM parts. As well as have them be supported with warranty, availability of the parts for X years & have a full-service manual. Currently you can't even do that for a lot of things or they are forced to use third party parts with no real documentation or support.

 

I also feel vendors that sell Internet-connected devices should be forced to sell them with a secure setup & provide updates for a number of years.

Once that period is over, allow the device to run in local mode/fully disconnected without breaking the core functionality of the device (eg smart fridge)

[mikes]

If they implement forced USB-C on laptops they need to enforce a mandatory 10 year warranty on them. Too many USB-C charging ports have failed, and no they can't blame user error, our last circular charging ports with the same staff we had 1 failure in 7 years due to a drop down 2 flights of stairs, now with USB-C we have 15+ failures in 3 years? Or - each USB-C charging port is on its own daugherboard easily replaced.

 

BTW are USB-C ports meant to be interchangable or not? I had a staff member who has a smaller laptop than normal buit it's USB-C. Her charger wasn't working so I plugged one I had for the 15" laptops into the USB-C port. Anyway smoke came out and it stank of a burnt out chip. But the laptop still works luckily there's a 2nd USB-C port that still works fine, even with the different charger? I wonder if the USB-C port is so fragile it's just that easily damaged by staff who move 5 times a day hence it's a very poor design IMO.

Edited April 12, 2023 by mikes

[DalekSec]

If they implement forced USB-C on laptops they need to enforce a mandatory 10 year warranty on them. Too many USB-C charging ports have failed, and no they can't blame user error, our last circular charging ports with the same staff we had 1 failure in 7 years due to a drop down 2 flights of stairs, now with USB-C we have 15+ failures in 3 years? Or - each USB-C charging port is on its own daugherboard easily replaced.

 

BTW are USB-C ports meant to be interchangable or not? I had a staff member who has a smaller laptop than normal buit it's USB-C. Her charger wasn't working so I plugged one I had for the 15" laptops into the USB-C port. Anyway smoke came out and it stank of a burnt out chip. But the laptop still works luckily there's a 2nd USB-C port that still works fine, even with the different charger? I wonder if the USB-C port is so fragile it's just that easily damaged by staff who move 5 times a day hence it's a very poor design IMO.

 

USB-C standards are a mine field that someone could do a TED talk about. We have laptops here before i joined that have USB-C ports that are data only, some are TB3, some are power only, its a s*** show. SO slowly standardising our devices. I always check before i plug a charger into a USB-C port that it is meant for charging.

 

I tend to stick with devices with TB3/4 as i know what the port is capable of.