The new EU rule only applies to phones that used wired charging. It does not apply to phones that only use wireless charging (such as Apple's MagSafe). If Apple used software to disable charging on the lightning port, that would make the iPhone 13 compliant with the new USB-C rule.
or move to wireless charging on all new phones and ditch the lighting port.
You say "the UK lost the protection of EU agreements when it left the Union". it's however more like that since BREXIT the UK is now protected FROM that bunch of un-elected bureaucratic buffoons !
Now we just need to endure the elected buffoons instead.
Has anyone tried cleaning out lint from a USB-C port? It can carefully be done on a lightning port with a toothpick. Not sure how to get it out of the USB-C port.
I use proxy brushes on both. Doesn't always work, but frequently does.
Who cares? The UK is how large of a market? Compared to the 450 million people in EU, 330 million in the USA and the billions in China and India. The UK is irrelevant..
Around $1.5 Billion dollars worth of sales is irrelevant in your mind is it?
The U.K. is one of Apple’s most consistent and best markets with healthy market shares of all of their major product categories.
Nearly half of all phones sold here are iPhones, the Mac Market share here is estimated at 27%, etc.
Who cares? The UK is how large of a market? Compared to the 450 million people in EU, 330 million in the USA and the billions in China and India. The UK is irrelevant..
Around $1.5 Billion dollars worth of sales is irrelevant in your mind is it?
The U.K. is one of Apple’s most consistent and best markets with healthy market shares of all of their major product categories.
Nearly half of all phones sold here are iPhones, the Mac Market share here is estimated at 27%, etc.
Next time try and make an informed comment…..
None of that matters, it's still an irrelevant market compared to the rest.
It doesn’t matter if the UK doesn’t follow the rule. Can anyone imagine Apple using two different ports? One on phones going to some nations, and a different one going elsewhere? Not going to happen. Apple has almost definitely been studying going to USB C for years. This won’t be something out of the blue for them. There are advantages in transfer speeds. They could implement 20Gb/s. If they had the power budget they could even have Thunderbolt. Lightning is a better physical connector, and slimmer. But with Apple going to slightly thicker phones the past few years, that slight difference isn’t important anymore. It’s also been better sealed against water intrusion, but new USB C connectors are much improved.
so the case for staying with Lightning only in the phone, basically, is becoming less supportable. And this would give Apple the excuse to tell people with lots of Lightning cables and accessories that they were forced to do it, so don’t get ticked off at them, blame the EU instead. That would be a win for Apple.
I think the more important issues is the future. Sure USB C is the best option now. But what about 10 years down the road? The same thing applies to SCSI, it was the best, but hardly anyone use it now. And we all know government is really slow to react to change. So EU user might need to use USB C for the next 20 years.
Because regulations just cannot be updated, can they? It's not like the EU has engineers on hand that make technical recommendations to the commission.. Nope.
Who cares? The UK is how large of a market? Compared to the 450 million people in EU, 330 million in the USA and the billions in China and India. The UK is irrelevant..
Around $1.5 Billion dollars worth of sales is irrelevant in your mind is it?
The U.K. is one of Apple’s most consistent and best markets with healthy market shares of all of their major product categories.
Nearly half of all phones sold here are iPhones, the Mac Market share here is estimated at 27%, etc.
Next time try and make an informed comment…..
None of that matters, it's still an irrelevant market compared to the rest.
Every market is irrelevant compared to the rest. Who cares about every market, right?
Crowley, every company optimizes for the largest possible customer base. Of course $1b is a significant number it’s still pocket change for Apple. Loosing the EU market wouldn’t. The same way apple satisfied India with production to penetrate that market. As I’m not a UK nor EU resident i do not want to comment on Brexit etc. Though, small nations will fight an ever loosing battle now and in the future since there will be 4 major markets. Which will dominate all business decisions. This is the problem when you leave decision making in the hands of an uniformed populous.
It doesn’t matter if the UK doesn’t follow the rule. Can anyone imagine Apple using two different ports? One on phones going to some nations, and a different one going elsewhere? Not going to happen. Apple has almost definitely been studying going to USB C for years. This won’t be something out of the blue for them. There are advantages in transfer speeds. They could implement 20Gb/s. If they had the power budget they could even have Thunderbolt. Lightning is a better physical connector, and slimmer. But with Apple going to slightly thicker phones the past few years, that slight difference isn’t important anymore. It’s also been better sealed against water intrusion, but new USB C connectors are much improved.
so the case for staying with Lightning only in the phone, basically, is becoming less supportable. And this would give Apple the excuse to tell people with lots of Lightning cables and accessories that they were forced to do it, so don’t get ticked off at them, blame the EU instead. That would be a win for Apple.
I think the more important issues is the future. Sure USB C is the best option now. But what about 10 years down the road? The same thing applies to SCSI, it was the best, but hardly anyone use it now. And we all know government is really slow to react to change. So EU user might need to use USB C for the next 20 years.
Oh, I agree. I don’t think they should be standardizing these things the way they are. In 2018 they wanted to standardize Micro USB for phones. Good thing that didn’t happen. It will be users all around the world, not just those in the EU. But we’ll have to see what happens. USB C is good for another five years or so. After that…?
You say "the UK lost the protection of EU agreements when it left the Union". it's however more like that since BREXIT the UK is now protected FROM that bunch of un-elected bureaucratic buffoons !
Brexit was the stupidest thing they’ve done in a long time. The country is hurting tremulously because of it. You really need to get off your political high horse and look at what happening in the uk niw. It’s not good. A lot of people are regretting it. There’s far more paperwork, tariffs, delays. So much so that tens of thousands of tons of food has been rotting in trucks while they’re waiting for customs forms to be reviewed. It’s stupid. Fishing rights te being disputed. Because if, we’ll, all the lies the Brexiteers told. pretty much nothing g they promised came true, but nay problem have occurred instead. The country is no w poorer than before. It nay break up because of it.
I don't get why under the EU rules, Apple couldn't make the charger USB-C, but keep the phone as Lightning (if they wanted to).
Because the rules say so. It would have made sense to say that all chargers use USB C, and that phone manufacturers just supply a phone to charger cable that will work with them as Apple has been doing for several years now. But that’s not what they want. The EU has many stupid rules. Such as the one coming up which doesn’t allow phone manufacturers to include chargers with phones and some other mobile devices. It’s why we’ve been seeing Apple, and then other companies not giving chargers. Soon, it will become law over there.
The new EU rule only applies to phones that used wired charging. It does not apply to phones that only use wireless charging (such as Apple's MagSafe). If Apple used software to disable charging on the lightning port, that would make the iPhone 13 compliant with the new USB-C rule.
or move to wireless charging on all new phones and ditch the lighting port.
What port does the charging puck use?
The puck does not use any port of the device. The EU regulation only applies to the port on the device, not the charger. Just as one can use a USB A charger to charge a device (though not a laptop) with a USB C port by using a USB A to USB C cable, (abet slow with basic charging capability), one can use a USB C charger to charge every iPhone and iPad right now, using a USB C to lightning cable. There is zero need to have a USB C port on an iPhone or iPad, to use a USB C charger for charging. Every device that uses any flavor of USB (A, mini, micro) and the lightning port, can use a USB C charger for charging, right now.
There is no need from an E-waste point of view, for this stupid regulation to force companies to use a USB C port on their device, for charging. Not when the E-waste they are concern about, is the charger itself. Apple stopped supplying chargers with new iPhones, 2 years ago. So most people buying a new iPhone now, will either use an Apple charger they already have or buy a USB C charger with a lightning cable. (Newer iPhones can fast charge through the lightning, with a high wattage USB C charger.) E-Waste problem solve on a global scale, without any added government bureaucracy (including the US) trying to regulate an industry they seem to know little about. (BTW- The iPod still comes with a charger but it's a 10W USB A charger. So with the proper cable, this charger can still be used to charge many different devices. It's not like the apple charger with the built in lightning cable.)
If in order to reduce E-waste, the EU passed a regulation that every new device sold in the EU, must be able to charge using a USB C charger, then every iPhone and iPad sold and ever sold in the past 10 years, already meet that regulation. But that would make too much sense for the EU.
Adapters won't do this time around the EUdiots require a port on the device. When this discussion started 10 years ago Apple managed to put in some lobbying efforts, that allowed them to offer adapters instead (I have that on good authority). So we can all thank Apple that the EUdiots didn't finalize on something as horrible as Mini-USB as standard port at least. (Let's face it, this would be far worse than USB-C) Same btw goes for the 'exchangeable battery' requirement the EU set up some years ago. Here Apple successfully lobbied to get the small word 'customer' removed in front of the 'exchangeable battery' part. (I've got that on good authority as well).
You say "the UK lost the protection of EU agreements when it left the Union". it's however more like that since BREXIT the UK is now protected FROM that bunch of un-elected bureaucratic buffoons !
The UK has an unelected second house and an unelected head of state.
And this USB-C regulation is the perfect example of the short-sightedness of leaving the EU. Devices sold in the UK will be affected by this legistlation whether the UK is in or out of the EU. All that's changed is that the UK has lost its seat at the table deciding on the regulations.
You say "the UK lost the protection of EU agreements when it left the Union". it's however more like that since BREXIT the UK is now protected FROM that bunch of un-elected bureaucratic buffoons !
Any trade deal with a major trading partner will involve severe concessions from the minor partner.
There is no getting around that negotiating hurdle.
Estonia has far more negotiating clout than the UK will ever have with major trading partners because it is part of a huge trading bloc.
The EU made it clear to the UK that it couldn't be better off out than in. So be it.
Good luck with the UK/US trade negotiations!
I fully expect to see major concessions from the UK on food standards, pharmaceutical goods, consumer protection and data protection/access.
So, 'protection' you say? But who is going to protect the UK from predatory trading powers who have zero need to make concessions to minor players.
Of course the US will be dealing with the EU on trade terms before it sits down for serious talks with the UK anyway.
Crowley, every company optimizes for the largest possible customer base. Of course $1b is a significant number it’s still pocket change for Apple. Loosing the EU market wouldn’t. The same way apple satisfied India with production to penetrate that market.
What are you even talking about? Apple doesn't stand to lose the UK market. This article is about how the UK isn't regulating the charger. Apple can sell iPhones with Lightning or USB-C in the UK. The point is that some edge lord thought "who cares" was an appropriate response. Apple obviously care. Maybe not as much as they care about the USA or EU markets, but sure as hell they care. A $1.5b sales opportunity will not be "irrelevant", or indeed "pocket change" any time soon.
Comments
The U.K. is one of Apple’s most consistent and best markets with healthy market shares of all of their major product categories.
Nearly half of all phones sold here are iPhones, the Mac Market share here is estimated at 27%, etc.
Next time try and make an informed comment…..
None of that matters, it's still an irrelevant market compared to the rest.
Because regulations just cannot be updated, can they? It's not like the EU has engineers on hand that make technical recommendations to the commission.. Nope.
As I’m not a UK nor EU resident i do not want to
comment on Brexit etc.
Though, small nations will fight an ever loosing battle now and in the future since there will be 4 major markets. Which will dominate all business decisions. This is the problem when you leave decision making in the hands of an uniformed populous.
There is no need from an E-waste point of view, for this stupid regulation to force companies to use a USB C port on their device, for charging. Not when the E-waste they are concern about, is the charger itself. Apple stopped supplying chargers with new iPhones, 2 years ago. So most people buying a new iPhone now, will either use an Apple charger they already have or buy a USB C charger with a lightning cable. (Newer iPhones can fast charge through the lightning, with a high wattage USB C charger.) E-Waste problem solve on a global scale, without any added government bureaucracy (including the US) trying to regulate an industry they seem to know little about. (BTW- The iPod still comes with a charger but it's a 10W USB A charger. So with the proper cable, this charger can still be used to charge many different devices. It's not like the apple charger with the built in lightning cable.)
If in order to reduce E-waste, the EU passed a regulation that every new device sold in the EU, must be able to charge using a USB C charger, then every iPhone and iPad sold and ever sold in the past 10 years, already meet that regulation. But that would make too much sense for the EU.
Same btw goes for the 'exchangeable battery' requirement the EU set up some years ago. Here Apple successfully lobbied to get the small word 'customer' removed in front of the 'exchangeable battery' part. (I've got that on good authority as well).
And this USB-C regulation is the perfect example of the short-sightedness of leaving the EU. Devices sold in the UK will be affected by this legistlation whether the UK is in or out of the EU. All that's changed is that the UK has lost its seat at the table deciding on the regulations.
There is no getting around that negotiating hurdle.
Estonia has far more negotiating clout than the UK will ever have with major trading partners because it is part of a huge trading bloc.
The EU made it clear to the UK that it couldn't be better off out than in. So be it.
Good luck with the UK/US trade negotiations!
I fully expect to see major concessions from the UK on food standards, pharmaceutical goods, consumer protection and data protection/access.
So, 'protection' you say? But who is going to protect the UK from predatory trading powers who have zero need to make concessions to minor players.
Of course the US will be dealing with the EU on trade terms before it sits down for serious talks with the UK anyway.
I much prefer articles purely about Apple and their product from this site.