Apple forced to ditch lightning charger in new iPhone

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Apple forced to ditch lightning charger in new iPhone

12 September 2023

By Daniel Thomas
Business reporter, BBC News

Apple has confirmed its new iPhone will not feature its proprietary lightning charging port, after the EU forced the change.

The tech giant said that the iPhone 15, unveiled at its annual event on Tuesday, would use a USB-C cable as the "universally accepted standard".

A new Apple Watch series was also unveiled with a more advanced chip.

But one analyst said a lack of "headline-grabbing" updates from Apple this year would disappoint some.

"It isn't a surprise given the maturity of the iPhone and Watch," said Ben Wood from CCS Insight.

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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66778528

[Auggie]

1. I watched the Apple event today. The camera in the PRO phones is amazing.

"Lack of 'headline-grabbing' updates my ass.

[JohnSJ]

2. but is it worth a thousand dollars? Time will tell

[Auggie]

3. Professionals use those cameras for commercial photos and video

BTW, Apple offers discounts for old phones.

[JohnSJ]

5. Not professional photographers.

[Q]

6. Broadcast quality

The movie and ad/commercial industry uses the pro max for a lot of jobs that used to take cameras that cost tens of thousands. I’ve used iPhones since they first came out. If you use them for work, they quickly pay for themselves.

[Q]

4. Great cheaper models

It really depends on what you need. If you just want a phone, there’s a $400+ iPhone. I’m a photographer so I’m going for the max. It has a camera never before seen in a phone. And I can make a call& have a computer in my pocket.

If you’ve never owned an iPhone, try one before buying one crap phone after another.And they’re built to last. Hand it down to friends or family or trade it in. Good luck.

[NBachers]

7. I was a committed Android user; but flagship phone after flagship phone broke or became useless

after a couple of years. After my Sony top-of-the-line phone broke in half in my pocket after a few months, I decided "to hell with this, I'm trying iPhone." I'll never go back to Android.

One complaint, though - iPhone's speech to text is absolutely horrible. They tried to fix it recently, and all they did is make it insert commas after every two or three words. Apple, your speech to text is a failure. And I spread the word on that every chance I get.

[JohnSJ]

8. You are making an assumption. I own iPhones. I fail to understand why some seem so defensive

when comments are made simply asking if there are enough features that will attract a significant number of consumers compared to the iPhone 14, which will be significantly cheaper than the iPhone 15

As for suggesting that all people have to do is just trade in their old phones that still can get quite expensive, because you are tied in to a contract as you are paying your phone off on time.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. I just did a quick google search for "cost of new iphone."

Why, why, WHY would anyone pay that kind of money.

I'm reminded of how expensive electric cars are, and how we're being told "Everyone will have an electric car very soon now". Not me. I don't spend $80k on a car. If I go over $20k it's going to be reported on the 11 o'clock news.

No wonder people are in horrendous debt and see no way of retiring any time soon.

[JohnSJ]

11. Electric cars are coming down in price, but the problem is the infrastructure isn't there, and they

still cost too much for many people.

Another Problem is with gasoline prices going up I would not be surprised to see price increases on electric cars.

[msongs]

10. not to worry, in trade for convenience of usb-c they will get even with you somehow nt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. What is USB-C? Here's why Apple's charger switch is such a big deal

What is USB-C? Here’s why Apple’s charger switch is such a big deal

By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN
Published 9:27 AM EDT, Wed September 13, 2023



The new iPhone 15 models is that they will now use a USB-C charging cord, ending an 11-year run with Apple's proprietary lightning charging cable.
Samantha Kelly/CNN

(CNN) — Apple retired its Lightning charger on Tuesday exactly 11 years to the day it was first announced.

The effort marks a milestone moment for the company by finally adopting USB-C, a universal charging system. That’s noteworthy not only because Apple has been resistant to do so for years but because it’s about to make charging that much easier for its customers.

But, as with most things, there’s a catch: The switch to a universal standard means Apple is giving up control of its wired charging ecosystem, and identifying good chargers from bad ones won’t be obvious to many consumers.

What is changing?

At its iPhone 15 event, the company announced all of its next-generation smartphones will launch with USB-C charging, and so will the latest iteration of its AirPods Pro. Although Apple has previously switched its iPads and MacBooks to USB-C charging, it has been resistant to making the change on the iPhone until now.

The switch would come less than a year after the European Union voted to approve legislation to require smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, portable speakers and other small devices to support USB-C charging by 2024. The first-of-its-kind law aims to pare down the number of chargers and cables consumers must contend with when they purchase a new device, and to allow users to mix and match devices and chargers even if they were produced by different manufacturers.

{snip}