Apple The USB-C
I’m still in Korea, but because of my last video, a lot of you guys were complaining about the terrible audio off of the phone camera. I thought I would do this, I run a second phone for the mic and now look like a complete clown. But you made me feel bad about that terrible audio. So we’re doing this. Alright, so in the news, we have the EU giving final approval for the legislation.
USBC Ports
It’s just basically making phone companies use USBC ports in their phones within two years, including Apple. Now, considering you guys are a tech audience, I don’t need to go into the explanation of why that’s good. There’s no scenario where that isn’t good for a new phone buyer. That’s why they’re making it wrong. Okay, but I think the more interesting conversation is, well, there’s a bunch of stuff to talk about first.
USBC iPhone
Let’s address what happens next. For me, the big question is, is there really going to be a USBC iPhone? Because a lot of publications are running that story. Like, it was confirmed by Apple that there’s going to be a USBC iPhone. And I was like, huh?
Really? So I check out the source interview, I’ll link it down below. It’s a great interview done by Joanne Stern from the Wall Street Journal. They never said that. Apple never explicitly said that, hey, we’re going to make a USB cipher.
USB C Port
What they did say was that they would comply with the law, and they wouldn’t be breaking the law. That’s all they really said. So Apple has 24 months to make a move here. It’s a decent amount of time, but I think they have two options here. One, they go with the USBC iPhone, so they just rip out that Lightning port, stick in the USB C port, do all the software optimization adjustments they would need to make that happen, and that could happen.
MagSafe
Or I think the more likely option is that they go with a port list iPhone. This thing has been rumored for years at this point, but it would be a phone with no Lightning port, no USBC port, just wireless charging, I’m assuming MagSafe, and wireless connectivity for data. And I don’t understand why there’s all this talk about a USBC iPhone all of a sudden. It doesn’t make sense. Like, I think Apple has been pushing for a portless iPhone for so long, and I think the only thing that’s changed here, the only thing that’s actually been affected by this new legislation is now Apple has this accelerated timeline.
Apple Does
Apple The USB-C
Because the way Apple does all their launches with like software features or hardware launches is like they release stuff when it’s ready. Like when they think the timing is right, that’s when they push stuff out. Right. That’s the apple way. But now, because there’s legal pressure from the EU, they just have to accelerate the whole time of how this is going to happen.
Portless iPhone
How do we make a portless iPhone come into the market by 2024? So two years from now and make it so that the infrastructure and everything are ready for their massive user base. It’s a decent amount of time, but it’s just less time than what I think Apple would have wanted. Be able to roll it out in a more organic fashion, like pushing MagSafe a little bit harder every year until there’s enough wireless charging and wireless accessories out there. That’s just how Apple would do it.
Charging System
Right, I can totally see that. But because of this whole thing with the EU, I think now they have to push that up a little bit sooner than before. OK, so yeah, I don’t think there’s going to be a UCC iPhone. I want to move over this conversation to another topic. So when this whole thing was passed, apple’s reaction to this legislation, they’ve cited, number one, that having a harmonized charging system would stifle innovation.
Stifle innovation
And two, they talk about how if you do harmonize charging, there’s a lot of e-waste. And man, I have so many thoughts about this. Okay, let’s start off with the topic of innovation. So when I first heard this, I was like, what? How does that stifle innovation?
Apple MacBook
Apple The USB-C
But then the more I thought about it, I was like, okay, I do kind of see that in some circumstances, like if Apple’s allowed to do whatever they want to do and force their users to do things the Apple way, they can come out with good stuff. If you look at the Apple M One chips, or like the Apple silicon in general, by not having intel as an option, by having no alternative for the user base, like if you want to use an Apple MacBook, it’s going to be M One. Now, they made something good. They actually made something that was, I would say would be impossible to achieve unless they did exactly what they did by forcing people to switch over like this. Right?
AirPods
And the same with AirPods when they removed a headphone jack, it was so idiotic. Everyone was like, what the hell, who wants this? But now we live in a world where wireless earbuds are really good. And I think the only reason why they’re as good as they are today, and we have as many to choose from as we do, is because Apple removed the headphone jack, and the industry kind of moved that way. But in terms of charging, I would agree that back in the day, there was no pressure on Apple to stick with some particular charging system like forcing Apple to use micro USB, well, there kind of was, but they skirted it and they made the lightning port, which was really good for the time.
Concept
So, yes, in some circumstances, some circumstances there is an innovation that comes from, I guess, the lack of legal pressure. So sure, I’ll give them that. The second thing that Apple talks about is the whole concept of waste. Dude, that triggers me. I don’t like hearing Apple talk about waste because it’s not that they don’t do anything.
Apple
Apple The USB-C
Apple has this carbon-neutral initiative. They use recycled metals on their phone. They do some stuff, but there’s like, iPhones. Like, Apple as a company has this culture where they promote and encourage and market this idea of yearly phone upgrades, which is massive when it comes to waste. And all of the things that they do, like not having replaceable batteries or like, easily replaced batteries, not having easily repaired phones, like, everything.
Lightning Cables
I could probably list 30 things, maybe more, about things that Apple does that are not environmentally sound. And to hear this whole thing of e-waste and Lightning cables. Like, the only reason why they’re even in this position is that they held onto Lightning port for as long as they did. Like, when it first came out, sure, Lightning was good, but like, two, three years in, they could have switched over to USBC, right? In 20 14, 20 15?
Opportunity
They could have. They had the opportunity to do it then. And then in 2018, when they yeah, when they had the USB-C port on the iPad pro, they could have done it then too. They could have made a USBC iPhone, but they held onto it. It held onto lightning.
USB C charging System
Apple The USB-C
And then even most recently, now they have, like, USBC on the regular iPad. It’s so cold there now I can’t even think properly. But they’ve had so many opportunities over the years to switch off Lightning onto a more ubiquitous USB-C charging system and it would have been, like, so much less waste. And they’re talking about waste. What?
