The EU might force Apple to drop the Lightning port within its jurisdiction

[Redaktion]

The European Parliament has announced that it will hold a vote on a motion to write its 2014 Radio Equipment Directive into law. This would probably result in an obligation for mobile device OEMs to fit all products to be sold in the EU with a universal charging connector. Therefore, those companies with in-house ports may have to drop them for that market.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-EU-might-force-Apple-to-drop-the-Lightning-port-within-its-jurisdiction.450635.0.html

[LL]

Ridiculous. Bureaucrats have to justify their existence. They sniffle freedom then they fake surprise by Brexit.

[Des]

I actually dislike apple for certain things but this is ridiculous. EU is getting too overboard these days.

Despite everything, the apple cables are far superior to the fraud USB-C cables led by the fraud USB consortium.

Why is EU not doing anything about the misguidance the USB consortium is engaging in? Vested interests??

Utter idiocy/something wrong with EU/some bribe involved by USB group.

[Spunjji]

Ridiculous. Bureaucrats have to justify their existence. They sniffle freedom then they fake surprise by Brexit.

Fantastic, illiterate Brexit trolls are in my tech sites now. Hooray.

I'm happy for "bureaucrats" to "justify their existence" by helping to eliminate thousands of tons of e-waste and by squashing the stupidity of multiple charger standards. The EU already helped tremendously with the move to micro-USB and mandating that chargers have USB-A ports - the ghastly nightmare of proprietary charging standards was nearly consigned to history, with only Apple remaining as a hold-out.

The individual rambling about the "USB consortium" very much needs to learn the difference between a standard and the fraudulent companies who manufacture crap that doesn't adhere to it.

[Puppy]

USB-C is the worst option regarding durability. You can read tons of reports of failed USB-C ports in months only and endless repairs.

[Puppy]

The endless EU stupidity is terrible. Has anyone told them that besided the connector, almost all vendors use their own fast-charging technology?

[AlexS]

Typical politicians stupidity  trying to freeze technology like in Soviet Union.

At this time fault is not by bureaucrats but elected politicians.

Now no one can put on market something better.

[Ken ku]

USB-C is the worst option regarding durability. You can read tons of reports of failed USB-C ports in months only and endless repairs.

why my macbook air uses type-c instead of lightning

[MikeTres.]

Finally I can have an I Phone that I can charge with my Macbook Pro usb-c charger. Thank you EU!

[heffeque]

I thought that there would be just a few anti-EU trolls out there, but wow... so many butt hurt people in this thread.

Great decision to make USB-C a standard for phones. People in the UK, US and other countries may still use other ports if they prefer.

[A]

About time! Out of all the connectors I've tried, USB-C is the best hands down and as everything from power to data ports on pcs to HDM/DP move to USB-C. I'll finally be able to use a single cable for everything in the future.

As far as durability goes, I am happier with USB-C than microUSB. USB-C cables might be less durable than lightning cables, but USB-C ports are more reliable than lightning ports. That is because lightning design is made so the port receives most of the stress, compared to USB-C where the cable gets the stress. And if you ask me, I'd rather replace a cable than a port on a device. I can get a new cable for a dollar or less, a port replacement on an iphone costs $100.

[weeeeeeeee]

Good, and manufacturers can then stop including chargers with the devices that I buy because I have so many different or duplicate ones that I don't need or can't use anymore that I have to throw away.

[Wooty]

Does not bode well for the fruity dongle company.

[Ian Reardon]

I hate what Apple does with its charger but allowing a governing body to set an official charger is just such a bad idea.  This will slow down or even prevent a next-generation charging solution.  USB2 was fine before USB3.  Maybe people feel USB C is "good enough" for everything but look back at the history of computers/electronics and you'll find countless examples of where "good enough" at one point becomes a huge obstacle years later.  I mean who would ever need more than 640k of memory!   

[A]

@Ian Reardon  - That is an ignorant statement really. When a market is new, you have no clue how it will evolve, but when a market matures, you have a pretty solid take on whats needed and what isn't.

USB2 and USB3 are backwards compatible with each other. Only with USB 3.2 and USB4 did we get a new connector which is the USB-C. Which means USB-A connector has served us just fine for 20 years. And USB-C will work fine for another 20 years.

Not to mention the only requirement is that it has a USB-C port for charging, you can still:
1) Make a USB-C compatible connector that isn't USB-C
2) Add a 2nd connector

If we have some new innovation that is outside the scope of just making it compatible with USB-C, then it'll first show up as a 2ndary port and then eventually become the standard. It's simple as that.

The cellphone charging market is mature enough for standardization and it should be. If anything, this should have happened earlier.