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by gf000 56 days ago
> Was switching everyone to USB-C annoying for Apple? Sure.

Doubt. They have already switched over every other line they had.

I believe it was more of a marketing stunt, they calculated that n% of customers will be upset with the change, so they waited for the EU ruling so now they can just point these n% to blame the EU who will take the blame instead of them.
1 comments
retired 56 days ago
Apple switched the iPhone to USB-C years before it became an EU requirement. I doubt the EU played a role in it. The 2015 MacBook was USB-C only.
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kalleboo 56 days ago
> iPhone 15 released September 22, 2023

> EU’s Common Charger Directive went into effect on December 28, 2024

Years?

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retired 55 days ago
The iPhone 15 released in September 2023 already had USB-C. Apple wasn't required to use USB-C up until the iPhone 17 release in September 2025. That is two years.
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kalleboo 55 days ago
> Apple wasn't required to use USB-C up until the iPhone 17 release in September 2025

No, starting December 28, 2024 they could no longer import and sell iPhones with Lightning ports, so they had to at the very least make the iPhone 16 in September 2024 USB-C.

But Apple likes to sell the previous model phone as "the cheap option", so to have a previous generation to keep selling they had to add USB-C a model year early.

Apple added USB-C to the iPhone as late as they possibly could with their typical product cycle.

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retired 55 days ago
Existing models could be sold after the deadline, that date was only for newly introduced models.
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kalleboo 55 days ago
Existing units could be sold after the deadline. Basically, what was left on store shelves. Existing models were not grandfathered in.

Apple stopped selling the iPhone 14/SE the day before the rule went into effect for this reason.

https://www.macrumors.com/2024/12/27/apple-stops-selling-iph...

> The regulation comes into force on December 28, and it applies to any individual iPhone unit placed for sale after that date, even if they are older models

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:...

> As for ‘making available’, the concept of placing on the market refers to each individual product, not to a type of product, and whether it was manufactured as an individual unit or in series. Consequently, placing on the Union market can only happen once for each individual product across the EU and does not take place in each Member State. Even though a product model or type has been supplied before new Union harmonisation legislation laying down new mandatory requirements entered into force, individual units of the same model or type, which are placed on the market after the new requirements have become applicable, must comply with these new requirements.

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littlestymaar 55 days ago
Due to the length of the European legislative process, apple knew it was coming years before it eventually landed.
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