Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
You know how it is: you’ve got all year to do your Christmas shopping, but you always end up leaving it so late that you have to pay for premium delivery. Despite our best intentions to get things done early, we always do them at the last minute. Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
This, I assume, is what’s been going on at Apple Park, whose residents seem bizarrely unprepared for the looming EU ban on the use of Lightning ports to charge smartphones. The company officially had two years to get ready for the new regulations, and it’s been on the cards a lot longer than that; yet Apple still finds itself having to simply halt the sale of three of its handsets in Europe with no obvious replacements.
[...] This strikes me, frankly, as a sub-optimal response to an extremely predictable situation. Apple’s strategy is to sell recent iPhones at a premium price but to target budget buyers with older models. With the iPhone 13 only recently dropped from sale and the 14, 14 Plus, and SE soon to follow it, the range will be left with no cheap option; instead of starting at $429, it will start at $699. (Or 17 eggs in our quaint European currency.)
This won’t be a problem for long, admittedly. A few months after the ban comes into force Apple will launch the 4th-gen iPhone SE, and by next fall the iPhone 17 will come out, dropping the iPhone 15 into the $599 slot currently occupied by the 14, and we’ll be back to normal. But the iPhone is Apple’s most lucrative product line in history, and I dread to think how many eggs Apple will be leaving on the table by going nine months without its full range in a major market. Think of how many Europeans will potentially be pushed into the arms of Google’s lower-cost Android empire.
[...] But this was always going to be difficult, because it was in Apple’s interests to fight against the transition for as long as humanly possible. Cupertino left its Christmas shopping to the last minute because it never wanted to buy any presents in the first place and still thinks it shouldn’t have to. But the sad fact is that Christmas is coming, whether we like it or not.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Revek on Monday December 23 2024, @10:59PM (1 child)
They really don't care about their older offerings. I've been to the moron bar(In the US) where those idiots tried to tell us it was apple that decided to start using usb-c. You couldn't convince most apple employee's differently. So they haven't done anything because they simply don't see it.
This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 24 2024, @12:40AM
And if someone in the EU really wants a low end iPhone right now rather than an Android, just buy it from a country that's not affected by the ban. It's not that hard for the hypothetically desperate.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by owl on Tuesday December 24 2024, @04:58AM (16 children)
It only looks that way due to the author not recognizing the other possibility on the table.
This is a deliberate, calculated, attack on the EU by Apple. What better way to get this rule reversed (or get Apple a special exemption) than to have millions of Apple fanboi's all screaming in unison at the EU regulators that created the rule.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 24 2024, @05:24AM (14 children)
Keep in mind the "Lightning ban" probably was such an attack going the other way. It wasn't any problem for EU manufacturers to block Lightning connectors.
(Score: 2) by aafcac on Tuesday December 24 2024, @05:37AM (11 children)
The problem isn't the lightning connection, it's that it's being used as the charging and data port rather than the connectors that everybody else is using. This isn't exactly the first time this has happened with them, IIRC, they were forced to adopt USB micro as well.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Tuesday December 24 2024, @06:18AM (10 children)
So what? As I noted when this story first came out, this is clueless micromanaging. There's no need for a single charging/data port standard and it can backfire should better approaches be found.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by aafcac on Tuesday December 24 2024, @06:21AM (3 children)
The reason is that there's a tremendous amount of waste in terms of extra cables and from the customer's PoV, that's one fewer type of cable that they have to carry around with them. It can be a real issue at times if you're using an iPhone and need to charge, but everybody else has chargers for Android devices. And, there's really no point to it. USB-C is just fine, Lightning is just something Apple does to be different and to try and control the cable market.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday December 25 2024, @12:25AM (2 children)
That's relative. If you have to carry every single cable to the landfill personally, it's going to be tremendous. But in a normal developed world waste stream? It's not even noise.
And what wrong with Apple doing "different"? Just don't buy their products, if you don't like their approach, right?
My point here is that there's no serious reason for regulators. This is just a sign of EU protectionism and people justifying their jobs. They could have just not done anything and nothing significant would have changed for electronic waste, cable management, or the other concerns mentioned in this thread.
(Score: 2) by aafcac on Wednesday December 25 2024, @01:04AM (1 child)
It's not one, it's one per device minimum even though people typically have plenty of USB c cables these days. That adds up to a large amount of waste. Do Apple can get more money for something that people can only opt out of by not buying at all.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 25 2024, @05:21AM
Again, so what? We're not wasting a scarce resource (that's why they're so plentiful that manufacturers can stick them in every box) nor is the waste hard to deal with. My take is that waste is a greatly misunderstood phenomena. Why should I be more concerned about minor electronics waste than I should about people who now have to obsess about having the right ports on cell phones (regulators and manufacturers).
And yet that is the real solution. I get that the EU and its member states will continue to make more decades of poor regulatory decisions. That's their choice. But a lot of people won't see the problems unless someone points them out.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by r_a_trip on Tuesday December 24 2024, @10:08AM (5 children)
The EU directive on cell phone charging ports has been and will be periodically revised when new connection and charging technology becomes available. It is a measure against e-waste. Yes, it blocks the option of price gouging by killing multiple proprietary connectors and cables for every brand. Which probably sounds like a dystopian nightmare for ultra-capitalists. In practice it brings more benefits than downsides.
(Score: 5, Informative) by janrinok on Tuesday December 24 2024, @10:42AM (3 children)
Additionally, it enables wall power sockets to include a USB connection so that recharging can be done in many more places without needing a special charger or cable. In many modern houses all you need now is a standard cable and the phone. I am replacing sockets in each room as I decorate, and the cost per socket is around €8-€10 depending on if I want a single or dual USB connection. This spreads the task over several years.
It significantly reduces e-waste as you have already pointed out. I still have a Nokia phone that has a non-standard barrel connector, but every other charger can be relegated to the e-waste bin or kept for when travelling to less enlightened places (such as, it seems, the USA).
No, he didn't. If Apple want to have a presence in Europe they can play by European rules.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 24 2024, @03:15PM (2 children)
We have those in the US too - it doesn't care whether the non-USB-A end is lightning or USB-C or anything else, still works just fine.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday December 24 2024, @03:39PM
So there is no benefit to the user for having a Lightning connector? The speed will still be limited to the USB end of the cable. For charging this is irrelevant of course, but how much do you pay Apple for a USB to Lightning cable? Let me tell you -£19 [apple.com] !!!! And they say that there is one born every minute.
As others have pointed out, the only benefit here is to Apple who can charge exorbitant prices for their 'special' cables.
This is exactly what the EU is trying to prevent - customers should not be ripped off.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2) by aafcac on Wednesday December 25 2024, @06:52PM
USB C devices charge faster with USB c to c cables plugged into a USB c port, but unless you're really in a hurry, that probably isn't a big deal.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by khallow on Wednesday December 25 2024, @12:32AM
On the first, it won't be timely. On the second, this is a silly use of government power when the customer can make the decisions themselves. And no, I don't agree that such regulation brings more benefits than downsides. For example, what would be the point of Apple introducing new connector tech to EU phones? They'll be shafted again when EU competitors are ready with their own products.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by drussell on Tuesday December 24 2024, @12:45PM (1 child)
They didn't "ban the Lightning connector," they mandated the inclusion of a USB-C charging port.
There is no reason Apple couldn't put TWO ports on their phones, but they wouldn't want to be convenient to consumers and actually have more than one port, they want to sell you more adapter cables so you can do things like charge and connect a 3.5mm stereo output at the same time. Having more than one accessory port ofANY type would eat into their lucrative overpriced-accessory market! 🙄
(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday December 25 2024, @12:21AM
Let's count the ways: 1) ports and their support chips take up space, 2) it requires a redesign by expensive people for a short nine month phone gap, and 3) not much point to continuing to support Lightning products in the EU now that they operate at a significant disadvantage. So yes, there are reasons why Apple couldn't put TWO ports on their phones.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday December 24 2024, @05:14PM
Note that this de-regulation strategy has worked for taxi service and small hotels in the past in other areas.
(Score: 5, Informative) by corey on Tuesday December 24 2024, @08:57PM (1 child)
I see the Apple vitriol is flowing as predicted. I actually think there are more noisy Apple haters than fanbois.
Anyway, I’m no fanboi and I have an old iPhone SE. I like it but it does the job of being a phone. What I wanted to add to this conversation was that as an EE, I personally really like the lightning connector. I think it’s a much better design than USB Type C and mini/micro mostly because it’s simpler. Lightning is a blade with contacts on both sides for the plug and the receptacle is a port with contacts on the inside. Whereas USB Type C might be basically the same, the little central blade with contacts is tiny and inside the port, so it can get damaged relatively easily and the whole unit is done for. Lightning only uses the cable plug as the central blade and it’s thicker, more robust. My iPhone port has sometimes gotten caked up with dirt and lint from my pocket (or wood shavings while chainsawing), and I’ve used a pin to get it out and old toothbrush to clean it. The other thing I think they did well was that the mechanical fastening (the clicky part to hold the plug in) is on the edges where there are no electrical contacts, and it’s made of metal. The whole blade is encased in metal (Al or so), and the tip of the plug is also metal. The contacts are recessed in from the surface plane. I think it’s a great little connector and I’m sad that USB-C won. Maybe I’m a fanboi of the connector. Heh.
Ah well, that’s just my opinion.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 25 2024, @06:39AM
This makes an interesting point. Elsewhere posters have discussed the waste factor. Well, an easy to break port is a waste generator. I lost a cell phone that way.