Standardised charger connector

[JohnD]

Although we gave up our right to participate in setting European standards, we will be getting the benefit.

"The wait is finally over. From 2024, USB-C will be the common standard for electronic devices in the EU.
In 2024, you will hear no more “Sorry, I don’t have the right cable”.
USB-C will be the common standard for electronic devices in the EU – and we have already seen the impact!
It means:
The same charger for all phones, tablets and cameras
Harmonised fast-charging technology
Reduced e-waste
One charger to rule them all.
Now, a reality. "

 

[sparkymarka]

We aren’t in the EU anymore …

 

[JohnD]

We aren’t in the EU anymore …

However, we will end up conforming to EU standards.

What's the chance Samsung or Apple will make a product that can be sold in EU?

100%

If UK wanted something different, what's the chance?

 

[pcaouolte]

Reduced e-waste

As Apple users chuck away countless Lightning cables and replace them with USB C.

 

[secureiam]

going for forward having standard charging cables is a good thing.
We never do things intelligently, mobile phones have needed charging from day 1, thats when common charging should have been established along with how often these charging devices could be updated for new devices.

This no doubt could have stifled progress in product development.

We can stop waste by stopping western capitalism, but money talks and that is why things are made badly and cheaply these days so they drive up sales.

I have cables that havent been used in many many years and probably never will, there is loads of waste by design of product lifes usefulness, mobile phones that work no longer going to be useable for certain things as the mobile networks switch off the 3G network for example, a relaative had such a warning recently, now for them the dont need anything other than calls and texts and that can use the 2g network.

If we truly want to reduce waste we have to look at things very differently to how we look aat them now.

 

[JohnD]

As Apple users chuck away countless Lightning cables and replace them with USB C.

You're telling me they have an appliance that Lightening cables fit? And for some reason they bought "countless" ones? They can carry on using it until they sell or recycle it.

And, obviously, part with its cable at the same time and in the same way.

 

[Murdochcat]

Lightning cables are rubbish. Unreliable and such a waste of the world’s resources.

 

[pcaouolte]

As a family we have owned around 8 Apple devices which used the Lightning connector to charge and to connect to USB-A devices. We have lightning cables in various rooms, at the office, in the car. We don't own any USB-C cables or USB-C chargers. As we gradually replace those devices we can now chuck away the lightning cables that have worked perfectly for the last 10 years and replace them with new USB-C cables. Similarly for the chargers. Tell me how this is reducing waste?

 

[JohnD]

cables that have worked perfectly for the last 10 years

I bet you were peeved ten years ago when you had to throw away all your 30-pin connectors. Did you grumble much?

Have you got many modern macbooks and Ipads?

A ten-year lifetime for a charger cable seems very reasonable to me. When do you expect to send your final old device to recycling?

 

[JohnD]

Do you suppose Apple has been winding up its users to complain, because Apple like the extra control and revenue the Lightning brings it?

"Switching to USB-C, Apple says, would actually be more wasteful than sticking with Lightning, since customers would need new cables and adapters — despite the fact that Apple already offers USB-C ports on its iPads and its MacBooks and has managed to switch over those popular products without major issues or customer revolts.

Notably absent from Apple’s argument, though, is the fact that cutting out a Lightning port on an iPhone wouldn’t just create more e-waste (if you buy Apple’s logic) or inconvenience its customers. It also means that Apple would lose out on the revenue it makes from every Lightning cable and accessory that works with the iPhone, Apple-made or not — along with the control it has over what kinds of hardware does (or doesn’t) get to exist for the iPhone and which companies get to make them."


"Apple’s MFi program means that if you want to plug anything into an iPhone, be it charger or adapter or accessory, you have to go through Apple. And Apple takes a cut of every one of those devices, too.

Want to connect an external display? You’ll need an Apple-approved adapter. Import photos and videos from an SD card or flash drive? An Apple-approved adapter. Want to use a DAC to take advantage of Apple Music’s new hi-res lossless audio? Again, you’ll either need an MFi device or an Apple-approved USB dongle."

The Lightning port isn’t about convenience; it’s about control

Apple’s walled garden extends to hardware, too.

www.theverge.com

The EU has the power to outlaw wasteful duplication and to prioritise consumers above multinational giants. Nobody else can and will.

Think of EV charging stations.