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EU Proposes New Legislation That Would Force Apple to Bring USB-C to iPhones, iPads, and AirPods
Apple has shifted nearly every portable device to tout a USB-C port, except for its iPhone lineup, its AirPods family, and low-cost iPad. Why the company does not shift to an all-USB-C affair might have to do with receiving royalty payments from partners that manufacture third-party accessories of the proprietary port, but that arrangement might come to an end, thanks to a legislation from the EU.
The proposed legislation would force all consumer electronics, not just Apple, which sell devices in Europe, to incorporate USB-C ports in a variety of products, ranging from smartphones, tablets, headphones, cameras, portable speakers, handheld consoles, and others. Calling it the 'common port,' the European Union claims that switching all products to USB-C would not just have benefits to the environment, but annual monetary savings for consumers that mount to $293 million.
Impact assessment study on common chargers of portable devices
Also at Reuters, NYT, BBC, AppleInsider, and Politico.
Previously: The Dream Of A Common Charger Is Alive, Despite Apple's Complaining
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday September 23 2021, @07:36PM (11 children)
Yeah, I would have preferred DB-25, looks more robust
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday September 23 2021, @07:55PM (9 children)
It has been a very long time, but from the specification, if I can rememberize from that long ago, doesn't the power on a DB-25 Serial allowed to be anything from 3 to 25 volts?
Thus to be compatible, if you're going to draw power, you need to work on as little as 3 volts, but tolerate up to 25 volts. But if you're going to provide power, you probably should provide 25 volts.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday September 23 2021, @08:08PM (4 children)
Yeah, and you will need a pretty big phone too
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 23 2021, @08:14PM (1 child)
Nope,... all you need is a separate adapter dongle.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 23 2021, @08:22PM
This forthcoming legislation has already been dongled!
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday September 23 2021, @08:57PM (1 child)
Where did a phone come in to the picture?
The only DB-25 that I know is a 25 pin connector that was once widely used for serial communication (RS-232) between a central processing unit and a decwriter. (or crt terminal if you were lucky) This was back in the days when you had to turn the cpu's crank by hand.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday September 23 2021, @10:46PM
Oh, I don't know... the headline in the story maybe?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Friday September 24 2021, @12:37AM (3 children)
The RS-232 voltage levels in a DB-25 connector are supposed to swing from a positive to a negative level, I think as high as 25 volts, with respect to ground.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 25 2021, @02:22AM (1 child)
Depends on which revision you are using. It is supposed to use -15 to -3 or +3 to +15 (with -3 to +3 undefined but usually considered to be latched to the old state). Below -15 volts or above +15 volts is not a valid RS-232 signal but must be tolerated to ±25 volts without failure to be compliant with the specification. However, a later revision (D) required DB-25 and raised the allowed signal levels to +25 volts but what you got was dependent on the actual hardware because not all DB-25s were RS-232s and not all "RS-232" devices were not actually compliant with the specification.
(Score: 2) by drussell on Saturday September 25 2021, @03:10PM
Exactly... DB-25 ≠ RS-232
The D-sub (D-subminiature) connectors themselves from decent manufacturers like Amphenol are rated for a maximum voltage of 1000 Vrms.
What voltages you're using depends entirely on the application. D-sub connectors have been used for many different things.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 27 2021, @05:32PM
Thank you. I was going from memory long, long ago.
Maybe you heard of Timbuktu Remote? During development, I had two stacks of modems on a work table. The two stacks were identical. It was really a single stack of pairs of modems. High speed (eg, 9600 bits per sec) modems back when these cost up to $3,000 each or $6 K for a pair. They were on permanent "loan" to us from the manufacturers. It seems our application (which I was developing) had them all excited about selling modems.
There was a problem with most of them. They were highly optimized for throughput, but NOT for latency!
In a GUI screen sharing app (think VNC, but in the late 1980s on Mac), latency is important. Screen sharing is highly interactive. If I move the mouse pointer and hover over some control, I need to see the control "highlight" (eg some pixels change) in a fairly short time.
In the process of working on this, I got an education on RS-232 and DB-25 connectors. I asked and the company bought me a nice break out box.
Hayes (remember them?) came out with a high speed modem (14.4 Kbps) that was optimized for latency as well as throughput. And it cost much less. Guess what customers mostly bought?
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Friday September 24 2021, @12:33AM
I like those Cinch-Jones [duckduckgo.com] plugs. Nice big metal surfaces. Apple should be forced to use one, say with 6 or 8 contacts, as the charging port on the iWatch.