Apple forced to ditch lightning charger in new iPhone
www.bbc.com
Apple confirms new iPhone 15 will have a common USB-C charging port after EU forces it into the change.

Apple forced to ditch iPhone lightning charger::Apple confirms new iPhone 15 will have a common USB-C charging port after EU forces it into the change.

  • GooseFinger@lemmy.worldEnglish
    22·
    1 year ago

    Eh, I don’t know Apple’s intentions but this specific design change isn’t that complicated. The lightning port still uses the USB protocol so the firmware will be the same or very similar. The supporting electronics also wouldn’t change much, but at most they’d omit/add a few small passives and slightly reroute that part of the circuit to make things fit together. They’d also have to lock down a large production run of USB ports, but any manufacturer would accommodate a customer as large as Apple. They’d need to test fit it with the new phone chassis but that’s relatively simple as well. Regulatory certification would also be smooth sailing for a change this simple, since most of what’s changing is simply the form factor.

    I figure it would take two years before customers would see this design change from the moment engineering was assigned it.

    I’m an electrical engineer who works in production if that matters.

      • CmdrShepardEnglish
        10·
        1 year ago

        I doubt Apple just learned of the pending EU rule 12 months ago as it was passed.

        The alternative is to take a gamble that it won’t be approved and then be stuck with phones that weren’t in compliance (ignoring the 24 month grace period) and having the development clock start immediately for future models. I’m sure they saw which way the winds were blowing, knew they had no populist counter argument opposing the change, and decided it was in their best interest to join literally every other manufacturer on the planet in using a standard port.

      • Rootiest@lemm.eeEnglish
        4·
        1 year ago

        Could they?

        Yeah probably. USB-C connectors are ubiquitous, I’m certain they could acquire the necessary components in short notice if they had to. From my understanding they essentially did just swap the connector and kept the same USB2.0 controller.

        Did they?

        I doubt it, they had plenty of notice this was coming and were likely already preparing for it.

        I wouldn’t be surprised if the second USB-C iPhone release gets a modern controller with USB 3.2 or even 4, and Apple talks it up like they have single-handedly made USB-C fast all by theirselves (and imply that other mobile devices haven’t had the same for far longer)

          • Petter1@lemm.eeEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            Why are you getting downvoted 🤔 I’m pretty sure apple would have kept lighting on the “cheap” phones until the complete removal of any port (I assume they kill the port on the “cheap” phone in the next 5 years) and give the pro thunderbolt like they did this year. I’m thinking this, because I bet not even 1% of “cheap” iPhone users uses the port for data transfer (keep in mind that 1% of “cheap” iPhone users are still plenty talking in absolute numbers)

            • Honytawk@lemmy.zipEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              Just because Apple forced their users to switch everything to wireless, doesn’t mean cables are obsolete.

              More users would use cable if it was actually decently implemented, like with many Android manufacturers.

              Because cable has many advantages over wireless, like having transfer speeds more than 10 times faster.

      • GooseFinger@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        It’s really hard to say without being personally involved. Two years is a very comfortable amount of time to implement that specific change. The biggest hurdle is passing regulatory testing early enough to begin manufacturing in time to build a large enough stockpile before release. If they really pushed it and threw enough people at it, manufacturing could begin as little as 6 months after starting. But that’s a very risky timeline because about a million things will still go wrong all throughout the process, and “simple” design changes like this are never, ever simple.

        I’m impressed if they began production one year after deciding to make the change. The EU directive might’ve been approved roughly a year ago, but Apple might’ve seen writing on the wall and started earlier too. Regardless of context, this is definitely not a >2-3 year process though.