After being forced to standardise to usb c and be responsible for some of the e-waste it produces, apple has finally relented.
They fought tooth and nail against the EU regulations to force charging standards. I don’t care if they up sell cables to some people; most people will reuse what they have and thats the whole point of the regulations.
Regulation works.
They transitioned most of their devices to usb save the iPhone before the EU legislation went into effect.
Apple caught shit for going USB-C only on their laptops years ago.
They switched back to the much more durable MagSafe (3?) connector. I have 3 MagSafe MacBooks and one usc-c model. The only one I have issues not charging is the USB-C one, and it’s the newest by 2 years.
Exactly, and it’s still kind of annoying years later on my work laptop (2019 Macbook Pro). I got a USB hub and now I get all those other ports, but that wouldn’t have been necessary if they just gave me an HDMI and USB-A port. The newer M-series Macbook Pros went back to having HDMI, which is really nice.
I wish everything I had was the same port, but I’m not going to go out and repurchase everything to standardize on one plug.
HDMI is a dogshit standard and everyone should’ve moved over to DisplayPort or Thunderbolt over the USB-C form factor.
Nah, it’s totally fine, and it’s ubiquitous. Ideally, I get both, so if I’m connecting to a TV or something, I can use HDMI, and if I’m connecting to a monitor, I can use DP.
Are people connecting their laptops to TVs frequently enough that this should be built into every single unit shipped? I can’t imagine the percentage of users who actually use their HDMI ports is very high.
Yes? Someone in my group connects to our work TV pretty much every day for our morning meeting, and I connect to a monitor at home and at work multiple times every day. Yeah, I guess you could ensure that every TV supports streaming and have a USB-C hub at every desk, but that sounds odd compared to just adding an HDMI port or something.
You use HDMI for all those use cases? Seems like Thunderbolt is a much better dock for workstations, and DisplayPort is generally better for computer monitors and the resolution/refresh rates useful for that kind of work. The broad support of cables and HDMI displays is for HDMI 2.0, which caps at 4k60. By the time HDMI 2.1 hit the market, Thunderbolt and DisplayPort Alt mode had been out for a few years, so it would’ve made more sense to just upgrade to Thunderbolt rather than getting an all new HDMI lineup.
Definitely.
People who never connect their laptop to a second screen are in the minority.
I never encountered one that has never done so, including Mac users.
To a second screen, sure. But I’m saying that DisplayPort and Thunderbolt are so much better, are generally supported by more computer monitors (but probably fewer TVs). I’d be surprised that there are a lot of people using HDMI in particular.
Displayport have bad connectors compared to HDMI. They break so regularly, I switched back to HDMI after every single one of those cables died.
Not if
whenthey add a chip in the official Apple cable that the iPhone/iPad/iwhatever checks for, and refuses to properly charge or transfer data without it. At this point, a generic USBC will only work for a short time, before the device rejects it, forcing you to bin it and buy a new one, which negates the benefits of the regulation. Regulations do work, but they have to be thorough, and this one isn’t covering all the corners.Edit: changes when to if. It was causing confusion as to what I meant.
I too like to get mad at made up scenarios
If only.
Now, I don’t know if it’s in USBC cables, but it was in their lightning cables.
Edit: apple isn’t hiding this program, either. Nor should they. It has merit. But it can be abused, as it was with certified lighting cables.
Edit: also, I think it’s funny that you assumed I was angry/mad about this hahahahaha I’m really not. I no longer buy apple, so it really doesn’t affect me. And if I did buy apple, I don’t think I would care that much, as when I did buy apple, I bought certified add-ons. I was simply pointing out the gap in the passed regulation. It seems that you’re more upset about this than I am. Sorry my comment affected you this way–it was not my intention.
Now, I don’t know if it’s in USBC cables
It’s not. Apple specifically follows the USB-PD standard, and went a long way in getting all the other competing standards (Qualcomm’s Quick Charge, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge) to become compatible with USB-PD. Now, pretty much every USB-C to USB-C cable supports USB-PD.
Also a shout out to Google Engineer Benson Leung who went on a spree of testing cables and wall adapters for compliance with standards after a charger set his tablet on fire. The work he did between 2016-2018 went a long way in getting bad cables taken off the market.
Is this true?
No, they made it up. There’s nothing special about the USB C port on any Apple products.
Nope
Not sure about USBC, but it was in their lightning cables.
It’s not farfetched that they would also add it to their “certified USBC”.
Edit: apple isn’t hiding this program, either. Nor should they. It has merit. But it can be abused, as it was with certified lighting cables.
I honestly can’t be mad at this point because what they SHOULD do is sell cables in bulk packaging to the Apple store, and then when they sell a phone they say “Do you need a USB cable? Free with the phone.” If they say “No we’re okay I’ve got hundreds of them by now” no problem, if they say “Yeah in fact can I get two?” Sure. Same with chargers. Of course this is Apple we’re talking about, so they’re probably $69.99 each.
There is a good Adam Savage video on yt about the engineering of the thunderbolt or whatever cables.
They still should be shipped in bulk to the store but it makes more sense why they wouldn’t be given away free
iPhones don’t come with those expensive high-bandwidth cables, they come with charging cables that only do USB 2.0
I’ve had one apart and to be fair they are not carelessly made. They’re jacketed in soft silicone under the braid and have thicker than average stranded conductors. You can totally use whatever cables you want, but theirs are built a little better than you’d think and they just feel nice.
Maybe this is a tactile/autism thing for me?
I could understand if you were buying a pay-as-you-go phone on the cheap… but this is an iPhone you’re talking about. What’s the minimum, $799? I think they can afford to toss a cable your way if you need one.
Now, Apple might argue that they’re being environmentally conscious by reducing packaging waste. That’s a fair point,
It isn’t… That’s like not flushing the toilet in a public bathroom to “save water”
Flushing two toilets because there is all the packaging and shipping for the separate apple branded cables.
Apple: As long as we can gaslight you into thinking we’re classy, we can do whatever the fuck we want
They should remove the USB-C ports, so you have to send it back to Apple for charging
Soon as we can figure out micro nuclear reactors it may actually work that way!
Beta-voltaic batteries are already a thing.
Huh, you’re right. I didn’t know about that. From Wikipedia:
The Chinese startup claims to have the miniature device in the pilot testing stage. Unveiled in January 2024, it is allegedly generating 100 microwatts of power and a voltage of 3V and has a lifetime of 50 years without any need for charging or maintenance.
Wonder if it microwaves your balls when it’s in your pocket too.
Either way we can dream of a future where we never have to plug in to charge again.
It’s old tech actually. They use it in pacemakers because it’s too difficult to replace or recharge the batteries. I guess you could do wireless charging now, but would you feel much safer with a lithium battery inside of you without a good cooling system? The body’s internal temperature is surprisingly warm when you start doing the engineering.
Final step would be to remove the phone from the box. They would do world a favor.
I was just thinking either box or the phone has to go next.
It would probably be an important step, considering the article is about AirPod 4 boxes.
Any moment now…
Price wouldn’t change.
fear not you can buy an apple magic connector for just $60
Probably runs at usb2 speed and charges at 5w.
Why even have a box at this point? Just put the phone in the mail by itself, it’s durable right?
Now it’s just a fuck you at this point
I dunno, I have so many USB c chargers and cables around that I bin them every time a device comes with another cable.
Agreed, but Apple removes things from the box, and the price stays the same…
And being good for environment goes it the window when they are packaged, shipped separately instead now
I honestly still hardly have any (spare) USB-C cables, and while I’d never pay for one I always do find the official Apple ones quite reliable.
At least keep a box of cables and donate it to an electronics recycling or a electronics upcycling store (ReUse, NextStep).
I don’t know, mine keep breaking every few years around the device. I think it’s because I sometimes grab the phone without realizing I was charging it
Important to note that they removed the cable from the AirPod 4’s box, not the iPhone’s. They are also not the first company to do this.
Next up: you have to buy the box first, which is empty. Then you can buy the phone. No box? No phone.
And then you’ll buy the phone but the screen is sold separately.
WiFi connection? Monthly subscription.
Ooh I can’t wait until they pay wall my phone.
“Charging fee”
No, that would make it too easy to do third-party screen repairs. Apple wouldn’t allow that…
Why? You just have to prove you bought a phone and posted a photo/video on a right leaning social media and you get the right to have a screen on your phone.
For me this would mostly be a non-issue. I’ve got enough extra USB-C cables that I don’t even unwrap the ones Apple has been shipping. Not to mention that I’m pretty used to charging my AirPods via MagSafe these days anyway.
If I send you an address can you ship some extras, mine seem to die or you get ones that are only 4inches long with something. Throw in that now many devices only have USB C on both ends so your last phone that sold with a USB A to USB C cord, that no longer plugs into new devices, I am always at a shortage.
The 4 inch ones are awesome! I have a whole collection of different 4 inch cables for when I travel, and for when I take my laptop to the cafe. They’re also great for microcontrollers, like the mouse jiggler I made from a pico 2040.
I’m glad someone has found their use, hanging devices off outlets never seems safe to me, or the device just falls as you eventually stretch out the charging ports.
Wish I had a collection of various colored chargers now. You may have inspired me to figure out a way to color code charging devices now.
I just keep it simple. When I travel, I bring my power bank and a tiny cable to charge my phone. When I get to my destination, I recharge my power bank with a longer cable. At each place around my house where I’d want to charge something (desk, bed, etc), I keep a charger nearby, either already plugged in or neatly stored near the outlet.
I never need to worry about where a cable is, because I always have one handy, and it’s just the right size.
If I knew you locally, I’d be open to giving it away. But with the cost of shipping even light usb cables, I think buying a UGREEN cable from Amazon might cost about the same.
When do they start removing the phones from the boxes?
Lucky you! They never offered a phone in the AirPods boxes.
Frankly, I don’t see much of a problem with this.
They’ll sell the “Apple” charging cable for $40 or something fucking insane, but as long as you can buy and use a normal USB-C cable that does exactly the same thing, go for it.
Of course being Apple, they will probably void the warranty or add an identifier to their cables so that nothing else works. In that case, I hope the EU bankrupts them completely.
2030: After headphone jacks, Apple removes USB-C charging ports in favor of wireless charging.
You misspelled 2026.