Apple has long been a proponent of its own proprietary Lightning connector, but the company is finally set to make the switch to USB-C on its forthcoming iPhone 15 lineup. This move has been met with mixed reactions from users, with some praising the move to a more universal standard and others lamenting the loss of the Lightning connector.
There are a number of pros to Apple’s move to USB-C. First, USB-C is a more universal standard than Lightning. This means that iPhone users will be able to use the same charging cable and accessories for their iPhones, iPads, and Macs. This will simplify things for users and reduce the amount of cables and adapters they need to carry around.
Second, USB-C offers faster charging speeds than Lightning. This is because USB-C supports up to 100W of power delivery, while Lightning only supports up to 18W. This means that iPhone users will be able to charge their devices more quickly with a USB-C cable.
Third, USB-C offers faster data transfer speeds than Lightning. This is because USB-C supports up to 10 Gbps of data transfer, while Lightning only supports up to 480 Mbps. This means that iPhone users will be able to transfer files more quickly with a USB-C cable.
MacDailyNews Take: The main drawbacks of this EU-forced change, of course, is that many users have invested in Lightning cables which will have to be discarded and, for those who’ve not moved fully to wireless charging, replaced and that there is no longer any impetus to invest, innovate, and improve beyond USB-C.
Any government — or, in this case, an extra-national quasi-government-ish body — that mandates technology will stifle innovation. It is a mistake. Luckily, in this case, it won’t matter much. Apple’s iPhones are moving to port-less and, if there is some overlap with USB-C iPhones for a few years, the e-waste created will be minimized.
This isn’t a matter of Lightning vs. USB-C. The problem is the mandating of a certain standard and the innovation it squelches. Idiot bureaucrats never seem to consider unintended consequences, regardless of how obvious they are. This is, as usual, a “sounds great, oh, wait” mistake. (They never seem to be able to even imagine, much less consider, and weight the “oh, wait” part.)
If you believe the EU will move quickly all of a sudden (it took them over a decade to codify this mistake), as quickly as a tech company like Apple to keep on top of innovation, you’re either a rube or under the age of eight.
USB-C is the wired port now, at least in the EU (and therefore everywhere; nobody is going to make specific devices for the EU which comprises a whopping 5.8% of the world population), pretty much forever.
Big government, quasi or not, is slow and wedded to its own red tape. If something markedly better were to come along, the EU will not magically change their mandate. In fact, what’s the incentive to create a better port than USB-C now? Not only do you have to coax adoption from tech companies as usual, but you’re now also tasked with nightmare and expense of lobbying and convincing a raft of EU bureaucrats to expeditiously agree to change their USB-C mandate.
Forget innovation in wired connectivity. It’s now dead.
This is just needless, slow-as-molasses, bureaucratic meddling in the market; a stick in the spokes that, in the end, will be like mandating a buggy whip with every cart sold, twenty years after the advent of the automobile.
If the EU had passed such a law when this innovation-stifling foolishness was initially proposed, we’d all still be stuck with MicroUSB today!
Regardless, soon Apple’s iPhones won’t have any ports at all. As it stands even today, the Lightning port on our iPhones is a largely superfluous liquid and dust ingress point. If anything, this misguided, shortsighted EU move only hastens Apple’s move to port-free iPhones featuring even better water and dust resistance. – MacDailyNews, June 3, 2022
Years ago, in January 2018, Apple provided feedback on this issue to the European Commission:
Apple stands for innovation. Regulations that would drive conformity across the type of connector built into all smartphones freeze innovation rather than encourage it. Such proposals are bad for the environment and unnecessarily disruptive for customers.
More than 1 billion Apple devices have shipped using a Lightning connector in addition to an entire ecosystem of accessory and device manufacturers who use Lightning to serve our collective customers. We want to ensure that any new legislation will not result in the shipment of any unnecessary cables or external adaptors with every device, or render obsolete the devices and accessories used by many millions of Europeans and hundreds of millions of Apple customers worldwide. This would result in an unprecedented volume of electronic waste and greatly inconvenience users. To be forced to disrupt this huge market of customers will have consequences far beyond the stated aims of the Commission.
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The European Union system, with its supra-government bureaucracy is almost as sinister as PRC.
And in some ways it is even worse, as it meddles in every detail of human activity, with its mandates by know-nothing do-gooders.
And due to the large population of the EU member countries, it even manages to louse up innovation in many other countries who are afraid of losing money if they do not bend to EU “rules”.
I know of a country who uses its commercial and military power to dictate the rules of other countries. Hint, that country is scared of commies and has an epidemic of fat people. I’m glad the EU can toss it around every now and then.
In the United States of America the voters, when they eventually get sick and tired enough of their lawmakers’ antics, can vote them out of office. In the EU those rule makers are not DIRECTLY answerable to the voters.
The Brits voted themselves out. They realized that the EU “… is a dysfunctional economic entity.”
The Brits are now regretting every single consequence of their decision. None of the delusional benefits of isolationism that the xenophobes cited in their lobbying has come true!
Not really. There’s that orange clown that won’t go away no matter what law-breaking, anti-democratic antics he has undertaken. Oh… it’s the will of the people that keeps him there. My God what a scary country!!!
The UK is very happy to be out of the EU.
As the article points out, several pros to Apple’s move to USB-C:
~1 USB-C is a more universal standard than Lightning, meaning same charging cable for Apple products. Yes, FREEDOM from Apple proprietary flimsy overpriced cables, YIPEE!
~2 USB-C offers faster charging speeds than Lightning, up to 100W of power delivery, Lightning only supports up to 18W. OUCH!
~3 USB-C offers faster data transfer speeds up to 10 Gbps of data transfer, while Lightning only supports up to 480 Mbps. DOUBLE OUCH!
Regarding MDN Take, “there is no longer any impetus to invest, innovate, and improve beyond USB-C.” No? But more important, what innovation? Particularly when Apple is far behind and not playing nice with the rest of the tech world.
While I’m the last to support Socialist Government EU edicts, in the short term this is a speed win for consumers until the port-less iPhones arrive…
I agree the drawback to MANDATING a port is lack of innovation, so I wish Apple had made this change awhile back voluntarily to streamline ease of use, since it is a superior technology.
When I travel, I need a USB-C to Lightning to charge or transfer from my laptop, a USB-2 to Lightning to hook to my vehicle for maps, a USB-C to USB-C for charging my Beats, GoPro and MacBook Pro, and a USB-2 to USB mini for an older backup headset (need handsfree for testing).
After this I will ditch all my old cables (and headset) when I get a new phone and updated Beats plus a small plugin adapter for the truck’s CarPlay.
And one cable type to use on all of them!
Sometimes government mandate is right, as in this case; other times, private innovation is right, as in Tesla charging standard, compared to CCS, which is an International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard, designed by committee.
In this case I would agree with the European governments decision, specifically as some had the same goals i.e. to reduce the plastic carbon footprint, to the point that there are no new cables provided and every iPhone user uses these cables (FYI).
Having a common cable which is faster, ubiquitous through multiple devices & easily accessible is maybe one of the best things to happen. The only downside ,, IT DIDN’T HAPPEN SOONER !!!
Still perplexed by how people call it stifling tech innovation. Would have guessed Apple would have made the shift themselves years back.
This is very application based and Apple has clearly lost this fight.
Would be like sticking to Zigbee on mobiles rather than WiFi, true it (Zigbee)has its own applications but not for the smartphone industry.
The EU started to work on this law about 10 to 15 years ago when every cell phone maker would come up with an own charging cable. Sometimes every model had a different connector. I don’t think we still have this problem these days. But I don’t understand why Apple was waiting so long to use USB-C.
Most vehicles have USB A sockets so the number of people needing USB A to USB C cables to charge new iPhones henceforth is simply staggering. Also required in most UK homes where USB A sockets in the home are commonplace.
Well, Apple made more than enough money by selling a bunch of proprietary sets of cables with colour white (natural colour of most raw plastic hence the cheapest). It’s about the time to go with world standards for convenience of consumers. Performance difference between A and C is staggering. Amazon can sell a bunch of adapters for those USB-A holdouts.
Innovation has always faced constraints: man-made laws, laws of nature. Genius is innovation within those constraints.
Look what happened when electrical plugs and outlets were standardized. Prior to that, appliance makers did their own thing; light-bulb makers did their own thing, generation facilities did their own thing with voltages and cycles – – nothing worked with anything else.
Standardizing didn’t stifle innovation; instead, it opened up a broader market for everyone involved.