Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “The iPhone USB-C Law: Explained!”.
All right, so it definitely feels like we get these headlines like every couple months, but this latest round this version feels pretty firm. Like apple, is going to make a USBC iPhone. A USBC iPhone is finally confirmed, except is it actually like this I’ve I’ve had to resist the urge to make a video about this first, as long as this has been talked about for months and months, but now there’s actually something concrete to talk about. So, let’s address it, so it’s been brewing for a while, but the background info is at the European Union has passed legislation requiring all phones and gadgets sold in the EU to have a USBC Port. It standardizes one port across everything which includes, of course, the iPhone which is currently not USBC, and this passed with flying covers by the way 602 to 13..
So then, this past week, Joanna stern of the Wall Street Journal was talking to some apple people on stage about it. She had apples, Craig, federigi and Greg jaws, and she asked them about this ruling and Jaws gives this. You know pretty winding long-winded answer about how the government shouldn’t be making these types of rules and creates a lot of E-Waste potentially, but then eventually ends with you know we don’t want to, but we’ll comply, obviously we’ll have to comply. We have no choice, as as we do around the world to comply to a local laws and boom.
Of course, cue. The headlines Apple confirms, the iPhone is getting USBC Apple, says, iPhones will finally get usb-c. Ports Apple confirms, iPhones will get USB type-c charging, but he didn’t actually say that, like again, let’s keep in mind. Let’S remember these are very well media trained Apple Executives, doing a public interview. They are being very careful with their words. They specifically said they will comply. Not that they will make a USBC iPhone and there is a big difference, so you can actually pull up and read the document with the exact law.
That’S been passed that they’re all referring to data.consilium.europa.eu I’ll link it below the like button. If you want to check it out for yourself it’s very long, but on page 27, it gets into the exact details of what it’s mandating as far as charging. So to save you the time, it basically says for these categories here, including smartphones. If a device is capable of being charged via wired charging, it shall have a USBC port and be able to be charged by a USBC cable and the press. Release from the European Parliament says that this will be, in effect by the end of the calendar year.
2024 and I’m with dave2d on this one apple, never specifically said that they will make a USBC iPhone. They would never say that, but I also don’t think they ever will see. First of all when they switch to lightning on that iPhone, 5. Back in the day, it was genuinely an innovation like it was a much smaller Port which let them push plenty of power and data for the time and that opened up way more room inside the phone than the outgoing ancient 30 pin could allow.
So, yes, people were mad for a few months about having to get a new charging cable sure, but pretty quickly, everyone sort of just adopted and accepted lightning for the iPhone and then Apple made. What’S called the made for iPhone program or mfi, which basically means they get a cut of every certified lightning accessory that anyone ever sells. So you want to make a lightning accessory that plugs into the iPhone and have it be taken seriously at all. Well, you’ll need to get it certified and then it’s certified mfi made for iPhone and that’ll be 10 off the top of every unit straight to Apple. Thank you very much like just this. Mfi program has made Apple millions and millions of dollars over the years.
Thanks to the lightning Port, but now it’s 2022. – it’s been almost a decade and lightning is kind of an old, outdated port. At this point, we’ve moved on we’ve gotten much better charging speeds and data speeds and so lightning kind of sucks. Now so Apple has been working towards their next jump, but their next jump wasn’t planned to be USB type-c. Their next jump was planned to be to no port at all. Yeah, that’s correct, they’ve been moving towards removing the port from the iPhone entirely. I have a whole video about this. I highly recommend watching it after this one I’ll make it the first link below, but yes, Apple, would rather just get rid of the port entirely than switch to USB type c. I always wonder how they’ll address it on stage like I imagine, it’ll have the little moment where they’re like how much do you really use the charging port on your phone and it’s taking up precious space inside the phone and hey we’ve had the courage to invent This incredible new charging technology magsafe now magsafe magsafe, is fine. You know in 2022, it’s okay, it doesn’t fix the slow data, speed problem, but it does slap onto the back of the phone with magnets and charged at 15 watts, and I think Apple’s wanted magsafe to sort of grow and evolve a little bit faster than it Has and it kind of hasn’t, but now, with this new hard-coded deadline imposed by the EU, they will have the next iPhone the 2023 iPhone 15 and the next iPhone after that, the 2024 iPhone 16 to really push magsafe before the next iPhone after the deadline.
The iPhone 17. can go portless so now it becomes very easy to see a world where Apple stops, giving you a lightning cable with the newest iPhones but just starts giving everyone just the magsafe wireless charging puck in the box, and that’s it just to get people Used to wireless charging for two whole years before the transition is just like yeah. This is how we charge all our phones now, insofar as they are capable of being recharged via wired charging. Usb type-c, Oh They’ll, comply they’ll comply all right. That was a smart reply, but yeah. If it doesn’t charge via wired charging at all, then they don’t need a usb-c port, but the iPhone isn’t the only lightning thing that Apple makes by the way, there’s some other accessories that they make. That are also on this list: Apple’s magic keyboard, the Magic Mouse and airpods all also charge with lightning right now. So they will have now also until 2024 to get that transition going to either switch to USBC or be portless and they’ve also already kind of started.
That transition – you might have noticed that the new Apple TV Siri remote charges via USBC this year, instead of lightning like it, was previously and of course, the new airpods cases all charged via lightning, but also have added magsafe compatible wireless charging. And it would feel pretty easy for them to get rid of that lightning port in the next two years. So the real question is: will magsafe be Advanced Enough by then for people to not go insane? Will it actually? Because the point is, it should actually be better than lightning for them to move on and move forward from lightning. It should be a technological advancement and that’s actually the point and that that gets us back to that original Spiel.
That Jaws made that I skipped through earlier because as much as it is very much apple PR self-serving corporate talk, I actually agree with almost everything that he says there, because what he’s saying is basically that we’re fine with the government making regulation with a positive end Goal in mind right, but they shouldn’t be so prescriptive with exactly how to do that, technologically speaking, that part should be up to the engineers and the innovators at these companies to figure out. So if the government has a good idea in Tech which can happen sometimes like, for example, wanting hearing impaired people to be able to use smartphones, then great fine, then let the companies actually figure out a way to make their phones compatible with hearing aids and then Work on that Tech and make it better over time that way, everybody wins and the tech actually improves. So because they’re mandating USB type c for all wired charging devices. Now it can feel kind of like a win because lightning kind of sucks – and this is better but we’re already kind of pushing the envelope of USB type c.
That’S not exactly new either and we’re getting like 200 watt charging in smartphones now and super high fast data speeds, eventually in a couple years, we’re going to move on to something even better than USB type c, and then what so? I don’t really want to hear about the environment and E-Waste from Apple of all. People like I get that a lot of people have lightning cables and that’s what you love about lightning, but that never stopped you from changing all the other stuff to USB type-c. So really the behind the scenes problem is the government being so prescriptive as to require USB type-c, instead of just giving an overall goal like unified charging standards to reduce e-waste – and you know, maybe the the law can update over time to keep up with the tech. But how much do you trust that to happen? So, in conclusion, hey I’ll, take a USBC iPhone if that ends up being what happens out of this, but it’s probably not going to be what happens, um and again we’ll see, but it’s like it can feel like a win, because USBC is better than lightning right.
Now, but that’s just in the short term and I think in the long term, it’s pretty clear Apple’s got a lot of time to think about how they’re going to get theirs, but hey when wires Wayne Wireless will win thanks for watching catch. You guys the next one peace .