Here's why: Apple is always looking for some little edge to persuade people to buy the product—perhaps to upgrade from a previous iPhone. For some people, this will be a "tipping point" to do so. Apple likely understands this and realizes that spending even a couple of minutes framing this out as a win by telling a winning story here could potentially move another million units this year vs. years in the future. That would be a decent ROI.
Exactly. They are presenting a product with the aim of selling it.
They will squeeze all they can out of any changes and spin things to make sure they control the narrative.
That's fair game and they did the same when they dropped the charger from the box.
And it's a win we wouldn't have gotten if the EU hadn't forced Apple to do it.
Would have been better if they skipped usbc and did MagSafe like they did on the MacBook Pro honestly. Being forced into anything is never a win and now we are saddled with this port until the EU dictates otherwise. All hail the EU though.. 🙄
Yeah, because MagSafe is such a great connector for data transfer and it's so easy to knock over a phone while it's charging on your nightstand.... 🤷
It would have happened sooner or later, even without EU pressure.
And who gives a damn? This was supposedly intended to benefit the environment? And how does it do that? Another bunch of stuff is rendered prematurely obsolete and gets trashed. The USB-C connector will itself be obsolete in due time and the EU bureaucrats will make sure it stays in use well past that time.
Your cynicism and pessimism make me want to jump out a window. Or puke. I haven't quite decided.
And it's a win we wouldn't have gotten if the EU hadn't forced Apple to do it.
How exactly is it a win for consumers? USB-C is a terrible connector for something that gets used multiple times daily. I hope Apple designed the new iPhone with a replaceable USB-C port. Other than charging and CarPlay, how many people actually plug in their phone for anything else?
Most consumers have already invested in lightning so how exactly is this a win for consumers?
I delayed an upgrade to iphone 14 when it became clear some time ago usbc was coming to the 15. My ipad is usbc, my mba is usbc, my mac mini and hp monitor is usbc. Whats not to like?
i did note that a car rental in europe inclded a model with a usbc port only. No usba, so keep those adapters. And any cable, any electronic hardware for that matter are all destined to be ewaste. I have many 110v cords cables plugs that have been in use for decades, but at some point they do become not only unusable, but dangerous. See eg tube and post wiring and worse in houses. What is needed is ecomically vable efficint recycling methods. I also have a drawer of adb cords and dongles.
i rented a car this holiday weekend , and was exposed to wireless carplay. Rather than an iphone 15, maybe i should get that dongle, since carplay is really what i want a wired connection for. But...alas, my iphone Xr is having the usual and expected battery degrade. And replacing just that is $59 but yeesh...rhink of the ewaste it causes...
Out of (genuine) curiosity, does anyone have a source (link) that estimates how much, let's say in total cubic footage, waste there would be if, for example, every single Lightning cable in the world was thrown away?
This is a serious question. There are many claims of waste. I'm curious if there are any estimates of how many cubic feet of waste it might be.
And it's a win we wouldn't have gotten if the EU hadn't forced Apple to do it.
Apple would have eventually switched anyways. I still don't believe in government agencies making companies have specific features. It stifles innovation in the end as it may prevent Apple from developing and using a newer, better and more advanced technology going forward until the EU or any other government agency approves it and then Apple can't use it exclusively like it might want to do.
Honestly, USB-C is a terrible connector for a mobile phone. Unlike lightning, if you break off the connector you're fucked and need the entire thing replaced because the connector is part of the connection whereas with Lighting if you broke off the connector you only needed a new cable and Lightning is a much more ridged connector for daily usage which could be why Apple stuck with it for so long.
Of course Apple will spin it as a win for customers. Apple is an absolute master at marketing and releasing new products to get people hyped to buy them. They tell you why you need it even if you didn't know you did and they're very convincing when they do it for most people. This is what makes Apple a marketing master.
The problem is, when you have a dominant company, there is no reason for them to innovate anymore. Proof of that is the iPhone 11 onwards, nothing new except just adding cameras to the back. So sometimes a company can benefit from a push from an outside entity (EU) and of course it had to come from the EU not the US, because US politicians are firmly in the pocket of corporations cuz they need campaign contributions k so they will never force something as big as apple to do anything . Have no fear, I am sure apple think of another way to generate revenue after the loss of made for iPhone revenue.
And it's a win we wouldn't have gotten if the EU hadn't forced Apple to do it.
90% of consumers who are upgrading from an earlier iPhone will not feel this way. That’s suddenly a whole sh*t ton of cables and accessories and money invested into the ecosystem over the years, that are all suddenly rendered useless. Having to start over and re-buy these things will not be looked at positively. Most people aren’t video editors who need lightning fast transfer speeds, they just want their things to work.
You mean the same consumers who were upset when their old dock connector cables became useless when apple transitioned to lightning ?
And it's a win we wouldn't have gotten if the EU hadn't forced Apple to do it.
Apple would have eventually switched anyways. I still don't believe in government agencies making companies have specific features. It stifles innovation in the end as it may prevent Apple from developing and using a newer, better and more advanced technology going forward until the EU or any other government agency approves it and then Apple can't use it exclusively like it might want to do.
Honestly, USB-C is a terrible connector for a mobile phone. Unlike lightning, if you break off the connector you're fucked and need the entire thing replaced because the connector is part of the connection whereas with Lighting if you broke off the connector you only needed a new cable and Lightning is a much more ridged connector for daily usage which could be why Apple stuck with it for so long.
Of course Apple will spin it as a win for customers. Apple is an absolute master at marketing and releasing new products to get people hyped to buy them. They tell you why you need it even if you didn't know you did and they're very convincing when they do it for most people. This is what makes Apple a marketing master.
The problem is, when you have a dominant company, there is no reason for them to innovate anymore. Proof of that is the iPhone 11 onwards, nothing new except just adding cameras to the back.
Some of this has to do with a product category maturing. There's only so much that can be added to these devices every year. There are limits to technology—short term—and sometimes we get where we're going more incrementally. There are also cost factors. People are only willing to may so much for these devices and everything they put in costs something.
And it's a win we wouldn't have gotten if the EU hadn't forced Apple to do it.
Apple would have eventually switched anyways. I still don't believe in government agencies making companies have specific features. It stifles innovation in the end as it may prevent Apple from developing and using a newer, better and more advanced technology going forward until the EU or any other government agency approves it and then Apple can't use it exclusively like it might want to do.
Honestly, USB-C is a terrible connector for a mobile phone. Unlike lightning, if you break off the connector you're fucked and need the entire thing replaced because the connector is part of the connection whereas with Lighting if you broke off the connector you only needed a new cable and Lightning is a much more ridged connector for daily usage which could be why Apple stuck with it for so long.
Of course Apple will spin it as a win for customers. Apple is an absolute master at marketing and releasing new products to get people hyped to buy them. They tell you why you need it even if you didn't know you did and they're very convincing when they do it for most people. This is what makes Apple a marketing master.
The problem is, when you have a dominant company, there is no reason for them to innovate anymore. Proof of that is the iPhone 11 onwards, nothing new except just adding cameras to the back. So sometimes a company can benefit from a push from an outside entity (EU) and of course it had to come from the EU not the US, because US politicians are firmly in the pocket of corporations cuz they need campaign contributions k so they will never force something as big as apple to do anything . Have no fear, I am sure apple think of another way to generate revenue after the loss of made for iPhone revenue.
So having government entities make companies implement things is innovative? I think it's quite the opposite. I fail to see your reasoning there. Adding USB-C to an iPhone isn't innovative at all and honestly I don't think really benefits anyone tbh even though Apple will most likely try to present it that way. There's only so much you can do with a phone. It's a very mature product thats pushing almost 20yrs old (in 2027).
Apple sells a lot of phones and yes they are dominate but they still have competition so there are plenty of reasons to innovate. The iPhone is not the most popular phone in the world as it stands right now and even if it were, it wouldn't be by a large amount.
And it's a win we wouldn't have gotten if the EU hadn't forced Apple to do it.
90% of consumers who are upgrading from an earlier iPhone will not feel this way. That’s suddenly a whole sh*t ton of cables and accessories and money invested into the ecosystem over the years, that are all suddenly rendered useless. Having to start over and re-buy these things will not be looked at positively. Most people aren’t video editors who need lightning fast transfer speeds, they just want their things to work.
You mean the same consumers who were upset when their old dock connector cables became useless when apple transitioned to lightning ?
Consumers are far more invested in Lightning than the 30-pin dock connector.
Out of (genuine) curiosity, does anyone have a source (link) that estimates how much, let's say in total cubic footage, waste there would be if, for example, every single Lightning cable in the world was thrown away?
This is a serious question. There are many claims of waste. I'm curious if there are any estimates of how many cubic feet of waste it might be.
No source, but you can do the math. A Lightning cable is a 1 meter long cord with about 0.003 meter diameter. That’s 7E-6 m3. Over a year, Apple sells about 200m iPhones for about 1413 m3, or a cube that is 11.2 m per side. Or a cube 40 ft per side.
The claims of reducing e-waste for standardization on USBC obviously didn’t make sense. There is much much bigger waste to deal with.
The best reason to standardize on USBC is to make using rechargeable battery powered devices easy to charge. Over time, you can get a charge anywhere as everyone will use USBC.
Saving e-waste? Nope. All the standardization is doing replacing Lightning cable “e-waste” with USBC cable e-waste. Only way e-waste is saved is if OEMs stop putting cables in the box. When that happens, yes, e-waste will be saved. Not much, but it will be saved. Whether that happens is an interesting question.
The best way to save on e-waste is to force OEMs to take back their devices and have them recycled, be audited, otherwise they can’t sell the device.
And it's a win we wouldn't have gotten if the EU hadn't forced Apple to do it.
90% of consumers who are upgrading from an earlier iPhone will not feel this way. That’s suddenly a whole sh*t ton of cables and accessories and money invested into the ecosystem over the years, that are all suddenly rendered useless. Having to start over and re-buy these things will not be looked at positively. Most people aren’t video editors who need lightning fast transfer speeds, they just want their things to work.
You mean the same consumers who were upset when their old dock connector cables became useless when apple transitioned to lightning ?
Consumers are far more invested in Lightning than the 30-pin dock connector.
Possibly. For many people, this will be a gradual transition. Not everyone will suddenly upgrade their iPhone. In the meantime they are collecting USB-C cables for various other products—many of which are Apple products.
While I don't agree with a government mandate here—and I believe Apple would've made this transition anyway—I don't think this change is going to be bad. It will be largely gradual. For me, I do have a few Lightning cables. I mostly use wireless charging for my iPhone. I have an increasing number of USB-C cables for various products. Frankly, I'm looking for USB-A to go away.
And it's a win we wouldn't have gotten if the EU hadn't forced Apple to do it.
Would have been better if they skipped usbc and did MagSafe like they did on the MacBook Pro honestly. Being forced into anything is never a win and now we are saddled with this port until the EU dictates otherwise. All hail the EU though.. 🙄
Yeah, because MagSafe is such a great connector for data transfer and it's so easy to knock over a phone while it's charging on your nightstand.... 🤷
Maybe I used the wrong name? The charge port on my M2 Max MacBook Pro charges much faster than any phone charger currently does and it does not just pop off while using my laptop as a laptop, you would have to pull on it to get it to detach.
Comments
They will squeeze all they can out of any changes and spin things to make sure they control the narrative.
That's fair game and they did the same when they dropped the charger from the box.
Or maybe I'm not just as cynical as the rest of the world.
Most consumers have already invested in lightning so how exactly is this a win for consumers?
i did note that a car rental in europe inclded a model with a usbc port only. No usba, so keep those adapters. And any cable, any electronic hardware for that matter are all destined to be ewaste. I have many 110v cords cables plugs that have been in use for decades, but at some point they do become not only unusable, but dangerous. See eg tube and post wiring and worse in houses. What is needed is ecomically vable efficint recycling methods. I also have a drawer of adb cords and dongles.
i rented a car this holiday weekend , and was exposed to wireless carplay. Rather than an iphone 15, maybe i should get that dongle, since carplay is really what i want a wired connection for. But...alas, my iphone Xr is having the usual and expected battery degrade. And replacing just that is $59 but yeesh...rhink of the ewaste it causes...
This is a serious question. There are many claims of waste. I'm curious if there are any estimates of how many cubic feet of waste it might be.
and of course it had to come from the EU not the US, because US politicians are firmly in the pocket of corporations cuz they need campaign contributions k so they will never force something as big as apple to do anything . Have no fear, I am sure apple think of another way to generate revenue after the loss of made for iPhone revenue.
Apple sells a lot of phones and yes they are dominate but they still have competition so there are plenty of reasons to innovate. The iPhone is not the most popular phone in the world as it stands right now and even if it were, it wouldn't be by a large amount.
The best reason to standardize on USBC is to make using rechargeable battery powered devices easy to charge. Over time, you can get a charge anywhere as everyone will use USBC.
While I don't agree with a government mandate here—and I believe Apple would've made this transition anyway—I don't think this change is going to be bad. It will be largely gradual. For me, I do have a few Lightning cables. I mostly use wireless charging for my iPhone. I have an increasing number of USB-C cables for various products. Frankly, I'm looking for USB-A to go away.