Apple will “comply” with European Union regulation that requires electronic devices to be equipped with USB-C charging, said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice chairman of worldwide marketing. That can mean Apple’s iPhones, which currently use its proprietary Lightning charging standard, will need to vary to support USB-C.
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The subsequent iPhones, expected in September as usual, could have a feature that no iPhone has ever had: a generic charging port.
The brand new iPhone models could include a USB Type-C charger port on the phone’s bottom, in accordance with analysts and media reports. That is the same charging port that is used on nearly every laptop sold up to now few years, in addition to Android phones, iPads, and other gadgets from Kindles to headphones to drones and heated blankets.
The USB-C connector would replace Apple’s proprietary port, the Lightning port, which has graced the underside of each iPhone model released since 2012.
The shift can be one in every of the most important improvements to the iPhone in years for consumers.
IPhone users would now not have to bring two different cables for his or her phone and other gadgets while traveling. Android users could borrow chargers from individuals who own iPhones. IPhone users could borrow chargers from anyone using a more recent laptop. Schools and businesses could standardize on one sort of charger for his or her entire fleet of devices. USB-C could even allow iPhones to access faster charging speeds.
While Apple hasn’t confirmed that its recent iPhones will feature a USB-C charging port, and didn’t reply to a request for comment, the change is sure to occur.
A recent regulation passed by the European Union last yr requires USB-C ports on recent smartphones by 2024. Apple is unlikely to provide an iPhone model solely for the European market. “Obviously, we’ll need to comply,” Greg Joswiak, Apple’s chief marketer, said last yr.
Consumer advantages, just like the reduced “lock-in” to a single manufacturer, helped form the reasoning behind the brand new regulations. The EU estimates the rule could save Europeans 250 million euros per yr on chargers. The EU also said old chargers account for about 11,000 tons of e-waste per yr within the region.
Apple opposed the law. In a 2021 letter, Apple said that the regulation would hamper future charging innovation, could require it to take devices off the market early, and will confuse consumers with additional information.
“We’re concerned that regulation mandating only one sort of connector for all devices in the marketplace will harm European consumers by slowing down the introduction of helpful innovations in charging standards, including those related to safety and energy efficiency,” Apple said within the letter.
USB Type-C hub connected to a laptop with cables connected for peripheral computer device equipment
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Each time Apple changes the ports on its devices, skeptics consider it’s just an effort to earn more money on its premium-priced cables. Apple’s most capable USB-C cable retails for $39.
For instance, when Apple added USB-C chargers to MacBook laptops starting in 2015, it drew jokes in regards to the dongles required to plug older accessories into the brand new laptops.
When Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone in 2016, it spurred months of commentary, each for and against the “courageous” change, about whether Apple was pushing people to its costlier wireless AirPods. It still inspires takes today about whether it was the proper decision; most Android phones have followed suit.
But while Apple makes money from its cables, and has a program where accessory makers pay for access and official Apple parts called “MFi,” Apple’s strategic focus is ensuring that its products work together without major flaws so its users proceed to purchase recent iPhones. It is not nickel-and-diming dongles and accessories.
Cable sales are reported in Apple’s Wearables, Home, and Accessories product line, which reported $41 billion in revenue in 2022, although Apple Watches and headphones make up the vast majority of the sales. That is much smaller than the $205 billion in iPhone sales Apple reported throughout the yr.
Possible downsides
Apple’s argument that a recent charger will cause confusion holds more water. With the Lightning port, corporations that desired to make officially approved accessories need to apply for Apple’s program, and pay for access to specifications and official Apple parts. For consumers, this meant that while there have been a couple of knockoff Lightning devices to avoid, at most stores, the dock or clock or cable users purchased would just work.
USB-C is a special beast. It is a “standard,” which implies the precise specifications are published by a bunch of corporations and individuals working together. Anyone can use those specifications to construct cables, and also you needn’t enroll in an Apple-administered program.
This also signifies that many iPhone users will learn that not all cables with a USB-C connector are created equal. Some cables can transfer data quickly, and a few cannot. Back when the usual was first introduced, some cables could even cause damage to devices because they were misconfigured, though this hasn’t been as common in recent times. Some cables even support “Thunderbolt,” a contemporary data transfer standard for powerful accessories akin to monitors or docks, although at a better price. There are web sites that test and approve cables which are “compliant” with the USB-C standard.
Apple will likely let users know if a cable is acceptable for charging an iPhone, through software warnings, what it carries at its retail operation, and thru its MFi program.
But it surely’s clear that the charger port switch raises possibilities for frustrating situations that did not exist when Apple stuck with its proprietary charger. Apple’s current troubleshooting document for USB-C charging issues on Mac tells users to check with Apple’s official cables and power adapters.
The world won’t change overnight when Apple’s iPhones have USB-C ports. Apple still develops a few of its own proprietary charging standards, akin to MagSafe, which uses magnets to affix a charging puck to the back of an iPhone. Its Apple Watch uses a novel magnetic charger as well. Even after using USB-C because the only charging port on its MacBook laptops for years, Apple recently introduced a proprietary magnetic charger on recent models.
Eventually, Apple watchers predict, the corporate is prone to attempt to remove ports entirely from the iPhone, but until then, Apple aficionados with multiple products will still have to carry several different charging cables.
Still, the USB-C port is a step in the proper direction for iPhone users, even when Apple is grumbling along the best way. Apple preferred an approach that may standardize charging bricks but allow cables to be specific for a sort of device.
“What that means that you can do is have over a billion people — it isn’t a small number of individuals have that connector on the left [pointing to the Lightning cable] — to give you the chance to make use of what they’ve already, and never need to be disrupted,” Apple’s senior vice chairman of worldwide marketing, Greg Jozwiak, said in 2022.