this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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USB-C worldwide? That surprises me, I thought it'd just be the EU. I wonder what the catch will be 🤔
They must have done a cost/benefit analysis and came to the obvious conclusion that having to build multiple variants would be more costly than the profit they'd have earned by continuing to gouge all the non-EU consumers on proprietary cables and junk.
The world owes the EU a debt of gratitude for forcing apple compliance on this one.
Next step: EU forces RCS compatibility
I hope not. RCS still has issues. Example, it still requires you to have a phone number. iMessage can be used with an email address.
The Apple insider podcast gents did a nice break down of this a few months ago. iMessage is a lot more than just proprietary RCS.
I'd be happy with just a functional bridge between iMessage and RCS
Doesn’t it require Google servers to work also?
Yes, and people sending messages through Google’s servers have to use Google’s encryption keys.
It still has issues, but it's much better than SMS, which is currently the only option for messaging between Android and iOS.
Well aside from like all the messaging apps, right?
All the not interconnected apps yes.
Sorry, I meant "the only built-in option for messaging between Android and iOS." A lot of people don't want to install any third-party messaging apps.
I think both things are valid. Apple should adopt RCS, but also that standard should be further pushed to include better features and not just stagnate
Alas, sorting software is much cheaper to implement than differing hardware, so the cost benefit analysis would work out differently in that case I expect…
One can dream, but recent news is a setback towards this goal: https://bgr.com/tech/eu-ruling-says-apple-doesnt-need-to-add-rcs-support-to-imessage/
Probably because iMessage will be forced to add interoperability using a protocol like Signal, Matrix or XMPP.
Well we're already getting removable batteries which is exciting as fuck. That one will require even more of a major redesign that it will 100% come to the US.
All hail the EU for saving tech.
US people are going to complain about that probay alot for a few years.
I two ports would also hurt the accessory market. American phones would likely miss out on a lot of toys.
Yeah they definitely made empty threats until they just succumbed. Their iPads are USB-C, their laptops are packed with USB-C ports. It’s obvious that, as one of the wealthiest companies in the world it’s not a problem to switch their hardware
It still supports usb2 data rates, reportedly.
I’m ok with that, but if you have to move lots of data that’s a bummer.
You get usb 3 speeds on iPhone 15 pro. Still it’s ridiculous that you don’t get usb 3 on the base model
Why would Apple go through the effort to offer you new features if it can just deny standard features to older/cheaper models so you pony up for a new phone?
The most innovative thing Apple is no longer the iPad/iPhone, by a long shot. Maybe their VR set, but it's too early to tell.
Putting usb c, usb3 speeds or 120hz in the phone isn't innovative though. £200 android phones have all of these...
I'm a bit out of the loop about USB C, but to me the ridiculous thing is that we have different standards with USB C at all, I guess it is because it improved over time???
It might sound surprising but it makes a lot of sense to have different standards supported over USB-C. USB-C is just a form factor of the connector.
For USB 3 or USB4 speeds you physically need more wires in the cable, while for USB 2.0 you only need 5 wires. Also if you want really high data transfer rates of 40 or 80Gbit/s the cable can only be around 1 meter or 3 feet long.
So because USB-C supports different USB versions, a charging cable can simply be USB 2.0 and be cheaper and long and do it's job just fine.
If USB-C was only USB4 it wouldn't be all that useful. Devices like wireless mice or DACs or game controllers wouldn't/ couldn't use it and the cables would all be thick and expensive and short. And for charging regular things we'd still be stuck with micro USB.
The only downside is that, yes if you are doing a thing where you need high speeds such as connecting a screen or external disk to a PC you do need to check that you're using a high speed cable, but pretty much all good quality fast cables have the speed printed onto the connector housing.
But yes the iPhone restricting speeds to 2.0 is strange and most definitely just a trick to sell more pro models. There are plenty of devices that simply have no need for anything besides 2.0, be it because they send no data or just very little. But phones really aren't in that category.
Thank you for the explanation!
Now if only the cost of the device reflected it's severely outdated hardware.
Like the CPU?
I don't think too many people use the USB port on their phone for data transfer, other than flashing phones and debugging stuff.
I guess most people didn’t watch apple event. Pro models have new A17 cpu with usb 3 controller inside, while regular iPhone 15 has last years Pro model A16 cpu (Apple does that with every new generation) which didn’t have usb 3 controller since lightning is still usb 2. iPads have support for usb 3 because they have separate usb 3 controller (not inside cpu because more space) so claiming that iPads have it for years is true but for different reason. So logically it would make sense that iPhone 16 base models will have A17 cpu with usb 3 controller.
It’s cheaper to manufacture one device for the whole world. Moreover, states like California are probably going to also force manufacturers to use USB C. And more than 1 in 10 Americans lives in CA.
While it might be cheaper, it's rarely possible. Different countries have different frequencies and other stuff, so you still need to make different SKUs for different markets.
That used to be the case, but most phones now use radios that can support necessary frequencies and protocols globally. It's also helped that the network side has also been more standardized compared to the 3g days.
There were already rumors Apple was going to switch the iPhone as it was the last device with Lightening. The EU mandate is convenient cover for deprecating all those cables and devices people have bought over the years.
There are still some accessories that still use the Lightning port. Most notably the AirPods, AirPods Max, Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad. I don't know if these will get a USB-C update or not.
AirPods Pro already are.
The rest will follow suit, likely with a generational update. I’m expecting USBC AirPods Max 2 this coming spring.
I hope they bring new colors to that as well.
AirPods is