We’ve known that the iPhone is switching to USB-C for a while now, but there was always a possibility that Apple would stick with Lightning for one more year. Based on the latest leaked images, however, Apple is all-in on USB-C for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models, with USB-C parts for the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, and iPhone 15 Pro Max all shown in a leaked image by X user fix Apple.
With the switch to USB-C, nearly all of Apple’s devices will have adopted the new standard, with only AirPods, Mac accessories, and the iPhone SE remaining aside from older iPhones and the 9th-gen iPad.
Government regulation works.
I think the jury is still out on this one imo. If Apple does what the rumors are saying and limit it to 500mA @ 5V and 480Mbps transfer speed unless you have a MFI chip in the cable, then I don’t think these regulations worked.
Also, if a hypothetical USB type D comes out some time in the future and blows USB type C out of the water in every category, but phones can’t use it because the EU said, then these regulations didn’t work. It’s my understanding that the EU protected against this possiblity, so I’m hopeful that this won’t happen. But I haven’t actually read the bill myself. I have only heard this from comments on the internet, so I don’t know for sure.
The EU requirement isn’t actually USB-C. It’s whatever USB-IF says is the standard connector. So if USB-C gen2x2 (or wherever they will call it) comes out, that will be what everyone has to implement.
The problem would arise when USB-IF stops being the de-facto innovation driver for peripheral interconnection.
It’s amazing how few people know this very basic fact about EU regulation yet are so quick to criticize it. Internet in a nutshell I guess…
This is not correct for devices being sold to the EU at least. Part of the amendment to the Radio Equipment Regulation outlines the exact standards for power delivery that must be used, and that interfaces which are capable of being charged @ > 15W must “ensure that any additional charging protocol allows for the full functionality of the USB Power Delivery…”.
For data transfer, I don’t see the point and future improvements to USB will come from industry in future.
The only way around this is with a wireless charging protocol, but manufacturers are moving away from that it appears.
Consumer-based regulation works better.
ie- when people stop spending billions on iphones that don’t use standardized hardware… Then, perhaps Apple will stop being anti-competitive assholes.
Right now, they can get away with being anti-competitive assholes, because everyone keeps buying their products.
Money speaks.
Just watch- apple will indeed release a phone that has a USB-Type C port. Then, disable data transfer to any non-apple certified USB cord, due to “security concerns” or “fire hazards”
It literally does not, as evidenced by the state of chargers in the 2000s and early 2010s, before the EU threatened to regulate if phone companies didn’t get their shit together. Back then you’d have a different charger design for virtually every phone, including new models of the same phone. USB only became ubiquitous because the EU told companies to stop fucking around and legislate themselves, or the EU would make formal legislation. Most companies got the memo, but Apple decided to be cunts for long enough that the EU decided they needed to finally step in.
Consumer-based regulation being the end-all is based off the classical- and neoliberal ideas that humans are rational actors and companies have a greater incentive to compete than to collude. Both of which are lies.
I wonder how they’re going to announce it at their keynote. Because Apple was strong armed into doing this they didn’t want to. At all. They kicked and screamed the whole way but they did comply.
So. Will they present it as an evolution like they almost invented the thing? Will they be passive aggressive about it? Or will they just say nothing about it.
I’m also expecting Apple to basically use the worst USB-C standard possible, which, just like Lightning, will basically be USB 2 in terms of speeds and so on. At least on the non-pro models. :/
though Apple is expected to adopt curved edges for the first time since the iPhone 11.
Hot damn! Thank you, EU. Maybe we’ll finally be able to climb out of connector hell.
Apple is honestly garbage. This would have been news 5 years ago. Now it’s just sad.
This is not sad. Progress is progress.
Good on EU to force their hand, we should be cheering for regulatory agencies making life better for consumers.
It’s sad that it took so long
It’s depressing that they were forced into it rather than realising for themselves that it’s bad for their own consumers to continue to have to use their crappy proprietary port. Of course they don’t care they make money out of lightning and that’s all that matters.
Wait until you hear the same Apple fans who kept repeating the iPhone is better because of the lightning port suddenly praise Apple’s genius to switch to USB-C.
I can’t wait to see tweets from people claiming that Apple invented the USB-C port.
Ya know what’s ironic actually? They were one of the companies that helped create that standard. They just couldn’t be bothered to use it as long as they could fill up landfills with their proprietary bullshit.
Yep. That’s what they always do. I cannot wait for Tim Cook to be giddy about it on stage lol
EU is the real MVP. Hoping that a few more years now and we’ll have iphone with USB C, app sideloading, user replacable battery. I’ve never owned an iphone before but if that happens, I might consider one.
I’m genuinely surprised Apple didn’t opt for the portless option. With wireless charging, wireless iCloud backup and wireless connections to macOS you don’t actually need a port on the phone.
I’ve had a 12 Pro Max for almost 3 years and I’ve have never plugged anything into it.
Wireless charging is a pretty bad option for a sole charging source though, it is highly inefficient and heats up the phone more than using a wire. My last phone actually had issues from overheating because I used it a lot while on a wireless charging dock.
Given how frequently something gets stuck in the port or it gets slightly damp and refuses to charge, I won’t go on travel without a wireless charger. The only time I plug in is if I’m charging from an external battery.
Definitely a good idea to have both.
iirc the new EU law that apple is responding to doesn’t say that a mobile device can’t have a proprietary port, rather it says that a mobile device must have a USB-C port for charging. But i might be wrong about that.
Been waiting for this for like 4 years now.
We changed to USB-C ports because
the EU forced uswe have courage!
Hm. For some reason, I felt like Apple was going to be petty enough to only make phones with USB-C ports exclusively for EU territories and leave the rest of the world with proprietary ports. Good for them for not doing that I guess.
If that were the cheaper thing to do I have no doubt they would’ve done it. Personally, I figured they were more likely go portless/wireless charging before being forced to USB-C but I guess that’s not entirely feasible yet.
It’s simply cheaper for them not to have two different devices.
They kinda already do different physical models for different regions. NA has no SIM card slot, China requires 2, rest of the world gets 1.
With that being said, charging ports might be a different beast.
One of the good things coming out of the EU.
I still wonder if Apple will do a split between EU iPhones and the rest of the world, though. Lightning accessories make money.
Yes because wireless charging is still very inefficient. Most of the energy seems to go into cooking your phone for you rather than actually recharging the battery.
It’s fine for a quick top-up but if you want your phone to go from flat to 30% in 15 minutes you’re going to need wired charging for the foreseeable future.
Going over to full wineless charging would have been very anti-consumer. Not that I’m going to get an Apple device, but I’m glad that they didn’t try and screw people over on that one.
fucking hell are we really at number 15? Are they just going to keep going with this naming scheme until the iPhone 1523?
They are halfway to iPhone XXX
Samsung went straight from S10 to S20.
that makes a lot more sense, it looks better and you get the well-proven benefit of bigger numbers.
Eventually you get to S3000 and that’s when you know you’ve made it
Samsung made it so the model number would match the year it was released.
Next up: allow side loading!
I might actually consider getting an iPhone.
(it’s crazy you still cannot get a version of Firefox with both adblock and bookmarks sync on ios)
I’m really curious how apple will present that on stage. If they say anything positive about the change everyone will ask why they didn’t do it sooner. But they also can’t just not say anything about it
Remember the HUGE charging cable that used to be the standard for iPods? When Apple switched to the Lightning Cable from that people were pissed because they had all these accessories/stereos/etc. that wouldn’t be compatible anymore. Apple promised they wouldn’t change it up again and would stick with lightning for 10 years. That 10 years is up. So really they’re basically just sticking to their word.
Watch them roll with the most barebones feature set possible just so they can point and say, “see, lightning was obviously better!”
There’s no point for Apple to self sabotage like that. Why make your new shiny $1500 phone look bad just to praise a discontinued products? Switching back to Lightning is impossible. Better to just move on with it and because it’s Apple, they will more likely to pull some bullshit like “Reinventing USB-C” or “The Best USB-C in the world”.
Apple would rather just ditch all physical ports and move to 100% wireless than praising Lightning over USB-C.
Remember that this is Apple, the company which has already been crippling its phones with lightning for the past decade(?). Although you’re probably right about them just going with whatever and then marketing the crap out of it.
As for ditching all physical ports, I was honestly thinking that’d probably be the road they’d go just to spite the EU. Oh well, I guess there’s always next gen?
Crippling? Lightning is way easier to use than usb c and USB C literally didn’t even exist a decade ago, no clue what you’re on about. Yeah USB C is really nice, but lightning doesn’t get junk in the ports and in general is a much sturdier connector and for the time was a much better option than all the other ports. I didn’t even use apple at the time and it was clearly superior to things like usb superspeed and all the other proprietary junk that other manufacturers had.
lightning doesn’t get junk in the ports
How the heck are you getting gunk in your USB C ports? 🤨
for the time
Indeed, it was probably fine ten years ago. But, as Mac Address (among many others) rightly pointed out, transferring gigabytes of HD video over a shoddy USB 2.0 line is a less-than-ideal experience.
way easier to use than usb c
How?
How the heck are you getting gunk in your USB C ports? 🤨
How are you not getting lint and dust in your USB C ports? Not really a problem with computers due to the cleaner usage environment but I have to clean out the port on my phone every few months or the cable will start losing connection at the slightest bump.
I wouldn’t expect Lightning is immune from this either but it likely is less of an issue there due to having less narrow gaps for lint to get caught in the port.
I don’t know, but given the apparent volume of people having this issue I’m starting to think I might just have a special talent. Maybe my case is getting in the way?
Edit: okay I actually went and shined a light in my Pixel 7 Pro’s port. It has the tiniest bit of dust build-up but nothing that’s prevented my charger from working properly. Unfortunately, my speaker grills have not been so lucky.
