USB-C For everything

This has been discussed for countless years, and is a good thing.

The clue is in the name - Universal. The idea that one cable, port interface can be used for everything is the innovation. Out of thousands of companies that make a huge variety of electronic devices, Apple are the only ones who hold out against USB (which has been around since the 90's) as they can make a fortune selling overpriced cables to their fans and it helps them convince fans that "they are getting something special". Anybody can design a new port/interface/cable that has better metrics - that's not what's important. What is important is compatibility and needing only one type of port and one type of cable. USB, by design, and by experience, is backwards compatible. As new versions of USB come out, they will still all work with existing devices and cables. Maybe, at some date in the far off future, a new port will be required by USB. At that stage, the EU simply can tick the box to allow companies sell devices with the new port as we transition over.

This decision has nothing to do with innovation. It is simply to do with Apple, and telling them to cop on to themselves.

TBH, this is a little late as I've been wanting this since I got my first USB phone (back in 2005 maybe?). At the time, lot's of phone manufacturers were still making their own cables (and changing them every year). As mentioned above, they all got onboard with USB within a few years of that, with Apple really being the only gob$hite for the past decade.

When that happens they'd just update the rule to apply to whatever the superior standard is (likely to be USB 4) using a similar process to the implementation of this rule.

It's not that mad: USB-C and Lightning are the 2 cable types still in circulation. Originally there were more types of charger than there were brands. That's a lot of doubling of eWaste to achieve the same job. Apple doesn't even include cables in the box anymore in the US at least. Lightning is only used by iOS products and the only reason they get away with that is their otherwise market position. They already include USB-C in many of their devices being sold now, and lightning doesn't offer anything AFAIK that USB-C cannot do and thensome, it is the obsolete choice... most lightning and apple wireless charging cables today now require a USB-C interface to be energized anyway! The USB-C has more pins too, significantly more, the lightning only uses 8 pins. USB-C supports 24, and is only about 1 millimeter wider, while still being bi-directional insert.

Where this might get prickly is with the rule for laptop chargers. USB-C can deliver that much power, but Apple's magsafe design for this plug is novel and innovative. The simple answer would be, a USB-C magsafe dongle, that can still be removed to reveal a USB charging port.

Money. The revenue they get from licencing on accessories is staggering.

..

The apple cable always seemed like it broke normal conventions as the power connectors are exposed. I guess it didn't otherwise it would not have been allowed but if you look at any other electrical connector (regardless of how much power they carry) the power bit is always covered.

I’m glad Apple stuck with the lightening port over micro usb which was the absolute worst type usb ever.

Now it’s time for everyone to move to usb-c I agree.

I agree, at the time it released Lightning was ahead of its peergroup. That's no longer the case, and apple uses both lightning and USB-C concurrently. This was the right time to implement such a rule

The rule would probably include a sunset date for the old standard cable and introduce the new cable as standard. It's about a lot of things, but Apple is hanging on to an inferior cable standard because of the licensing it controls on its design, which (used to be) governed by its use of micro authentication chips embedded in the cable's plug (Which has been worked around iirc). Both obsolete and inefficient. And it's not just the EU, apple has done it to itself: the iPad pro uses USB-C. If you're an Apple customer with multiple devices from them, even from one manufacturer you are dealing with multiple standards of cable, and one of them is far more proprietary than the other.

Then EU can switch to another type of cable in 10-30 years if and when USB C is no longer good enough.

Then we can have dongles and converters during the transition, and they will work just fine because we all have ONE connection they have to work with so we can use the same ones and not keep buying more trash.

Sounds good!

Some of us will remember the days of phone data cables that were compatible only to a specific phone, i.e. the cable for Samsung model A didn't fit Samsung model B and seemed to fit Samsung model C but damaged it if you attempted to insert it there. We come a long way :)

Standardising USB-C is generally a good thing but not without it's flaws.

The main problem is the pitch of the connector is very fine. It will wear out quickly and i've had several USB-C charger ports fail on me. Internally the charge port is often on a separate flexible PCB which is specific to that model phone and quite hard to DIY replace the connector. Significantly harder than desoldering from a rigid PCB.

The old Nokia connector was much more robust and if it failed you could replace it using only a torx screwdriver. Most people don't use the USB cable to transfer data. I think they should have standardised a 2-pole connector instead

But they all accept the same fuel nozzle!

I assume a truck can take normal car one but the ones made for trucks are larger, if you use one it won't go in right and the auto shut off will keep kicking in.

Had to go in and pay for a euro of diesel that took an age to get, and then come out and fill normally.

Skoda removed normal USB ports for USB-C in some of their cars in 2022. I know they are thinking ahead, but I think its way too early. I want to trade in my Kodiaq for a January 2023 model, it means I know have to get a USB to USB-C adaptor for my phone and music USB key. More gagets !

I heartily endorse this event or product change

But, obligatory XKCD:

Apple phones have a different connection to apple laptops. That's just stupid.

USB C is improving all the time.

They have USB C on their laptops and Desktops that already do all this stuff. They are also one of the most profitable companies on the planet.

I think they'll manage.

A, I see, thanks for the explanation 😉

USB C has double the number of connections it needs to allow for it to be orientated either way, lightning doesn't but the ports can detect which way it is so it's the port doing the work to figure out which way you're putting it in. So the lightning port can be physically smaller than a USB C port can be.

Even on the laptops there's still the difference with thunderbolt vs USB C 3.2 gen2/ 3 gen 2 or whatever they've renamed them to recently.

I think the biggest thing from all this is standardizing the fast charging, that was the most problematic difference even among those using USB C.

Simple adapters can sort USB C to Lightning but the vast differences between the charging standards was a bigger issue as fast charging could be limited to USB C charger from that phone manufacturer.

The duplication of USB C connections is not a problem. Only the ground and power connections are truly duplicated and this is actually beneficial for power delivery, which is much higher than what lightning port can do.

I know from testing lots of chargers that many that claim to be "fast chargers" are not.

I have chargers from Aukey, Anker, Xiaomi and pixel and it's hit and miss if they do what they claim to on the box. We have QC, PD, IQ, Turbo Charge some are standards some are the standard relabeled. Not all will do their advertised speeds.

Then you have to to test the cable to see if it can support the charging speed and isn't damaged.

The vast majority of people don't check to see if their fast charging is actually charging at max speed.

It's not even just phones. Our work headphones came with a cable that barely charges them.

Hugely. Internally thin cables cannot carry enough power.

A few years ago when the phone manufacturers all pursued “FAST” charging, that was the phone generation or two where phones were known to spontaneously combust. There are physical limits to how hard you can push rechargeable batteries

fast for the time but old hat now. that is only 18W charging. the latest can do 45W.