- 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 USB-C iPhone.
A USB-C iPhone is finally confirmed.
Except, is it, actually?
I've had to resist our urge to make a video about this
for 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 that the European Union has passed legislation
requiring all phones and gadgets sold in the EU
to have a USB-C port.
It standardizes one port across everything,
which includes, of course, the iPhone,
which is currently not USB-C.
And this pass with flying colors, 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 Apple's Craig Federighi and Greg Joz,
and she asked them about this ruling.
And Joz gives this 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,
"We don't want to, but we'll comply."
- Obviously, we'll have to comply.
We have no choice as we do around the world
to comply to local laws.
- And boom, of course, cue the headlines.
"Apple confirms the iPhone is getting USB-C."
"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're being very careful with their words.
They specifically said they will comply,
not that they will make a USB-C 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 wanna 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 USB-C port
and be able to be charged by a USB-C 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 USB-C iPhone.
They would never say that,
but I also don't think they ever will.
See, first of all,
when they switched to Lightning on that iPhone 5
back in the day, it was genuinely an innovation.
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 wanna 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 they'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 is fine.
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 charge at 15 watts.
And I think Apple has 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.
In so far as they're 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 USB-C
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 by USB-C this year
instead of Lightning like it was previously.
And of course the new AirPods cases all charge 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?
Well, will it actually,
'cause 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 gets us back to that original spiel
that Joz made that I skipped through earlier.
Because as much as it it is very much Apple PR,
self-serving corporate talk,
I actually agree with almost, 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 gonna 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 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 USB-C iPhone
if that ends up being what happens out of this,
but it's probably not gonna be what happens.
And again, we'll see,
but it can feel like a win
because USB-C 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 gonna get theirs.
But hey, when wires wane, (soft music)
wireless will win.
Thanks for watching.
Catch you guys in the next one.
Peace.