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If Apple actually cared about the environment they would make a charging cable that wasn't so flimsy and would completely ditch Lightning so people could use mo

If Apple actually cared about the environment they would make a charging cable that wasn't so flimsy and would completely ditch Lightning so people could use more devices with the same cable. But both of those options would cut down on their profits, so instead we get this pseudo-environmentalism that could very well increase the overall environmental impact of these devices.

Google234 6y ago
They are moving towards wireless charging which will solve that issue.
- laurent92 6y ago
  Wireless loses 1/3 of the energy. It requires 47% more energy, and even more when misaligned. https://debugger.medium.com/wireless-charging-is-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen-48afdde70ed9 https://debugger.medium.com/wireless-charging-is-a-disaster-...
  - _huayra_ 6y ago
    The last time I had a wireless chargeable phone, the charger would get uncomfortably hot, which I assume degrades the battery as well. I understand wireless charging for my toothbrush (charging port = less waterproof), but it's such a "solution searching for a problem" for phones. Plugging in a cable just isn't that hard.
    - stingraycharles 6y ago
      I have an Anker wireless charging station, have not experienced any excessive heat. I have it on my desk so that I continuously charge my phone during the day, but am still able to pick it up all the time. It’s pretty nice but I agree it’s a gimmick, not a necessary problem to solve.
    - dragonwriter 6y ago
      > I understand wireless charging for my toothbrush (charging port = less waterproof), but it’s such a “solution searching for a problem” for phones. The one awesome use case for phones is where the phone itself is a wireless charger, so you can do phone-to-phone charging when someone has a well charged phone and someone else has one about to die, without additional gear.
- zakki 6y ago
  Isn't the volume of the wireless charger bigger than the wired one? It may solve the cable issue, but not the environment one.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- freeone3000 6y ago
  Most devices charge with USB-B, not wirelessly. If they wanted to skip to USB-C, sure, that's fine. Including wireless would have been a good idea five years ago, when it started becoming popular. It's still popular today, but it's way too slow for modern phone battery capacities.
  - ksec 6y ago
    >Most devices charge with USB-B Do you mean USB- A?
    - freeone3000 6y ago
      No. A is the host port. B is the side that connects to the device, with micro-B being the most common.
      - ksec 6y ago
        >micro-B being the most common. I guess that is me sticking to Apple for long. I thought most Android devices has been on USB-C for 5 years?
        freeone3000 6y ago
        It really depends on the price level of the phone. Non-flagship phones, like the Moto G9 and the Samsung A11, use micro-B and were released in 2019. USB-C is common in the $500+ market.
    - ce4 6y ago
      I guess, micro USB.
  - google234123 6y ago
    Apple's one does 15W which is plenty.
    - freeone3000 6y ago
ksec 6y ago
>make a charging cable that wasn't so flimsy Agree, they looked at braided cable [1] which I hate as it is a dust magnet. And not doing something properly like Anker [2] which is a cable that refuse to break. ( As most cable should be ) >completely ditch Lightning so people could use more devices with the same cable That I disagree, there are billions of lightning cable out there. Ditching them for USB-C doesn't fix anything. [1] https://www.macrumors.com/2020/07/23/leaker-shares-images-braided-lightning-cable/ https://www.macrumors.com/2020/07/23/leaker-shares-images-br... [2] https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powerline-ii-3ft-lightning/A8432011 https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powerline-ii-3ft-ligh...
- Daho0n 6y ago
  This doesn't add up. In a world with Lightning for iphones and USB C for everything else there's a smaller chance of having the correct cable than in a world with USB C for iphones and everything else. Enforce a standard and the problem goes away. Just yesterday I had to connect my phone to a friend's USB connector in his car but couldn't because the only cable available were the freak that is one standard in one end and another in the other (IE. a standard iPhone cable with USB -> lightning).
  - ksec 6y ago
    Everyone in the iPhone ecosystem already has lightning cable. That is 1 billion iPhone user with at least one lightning cable if not more. By enforcing a USB-C standard, you are throwing away one billion lightning cable. And as shown in your example, he has one. It works for him, it just happens not to work for non-Apple users. Which isn't a problem for Apple users. What is there to be gain for the current one billion iPhone user, 200M iPad user which are still on lightning ? I have room full of lightning cables and devices that use it, but zero USB-C devices. Arguably switching to Wireless ( MagSafe ) made sense from a UX perspective. Although I question whether we can resolve the fundamental physics issues which is efficiency and heat.
sneak 6y ago
Apple makes less than one half of one percent of their revenue from the entire MFi program, which includes all proprietary port licensing and cables - basically the entire lightning port ecosystem, including cables made by third parties. To them it's a trivial amount of money. Apple isn't concerned with making revenue from cables, this is a false meme that needs to die. https://sneak.berlin/20190330/apple-is-not-trying-to-screw-you/ https://sneak.berlin/20190330/apple-is-not-trying-to-screw-y...
- gabrielsroka 6y ago
  Apple's TTM revenue was $274B. So that's over $1B a year? I wouldn't throw away that kind of cash. Yes it's small as a percentage but it's still a very large number.
simonh 6y ago
Would ditching lightning really make finding a compatible cable easier. Which alternate cable should they have used? Mini-USB, Micro-USB A, Micro-USB B, USB Mini-b 4pin, USB Mini-b 5pin, UsB 3.0 Micro-B, Micro-USB AB, goodness knows what else. Lightning was a revelation. Rotationally symmetrical, fast, auto-negotiating, compact. It set the benchmark for what a mobile charging cable should be like.
- Daho0n 6y ago
  Of course it would. Any phone shop would have both kinds but lots of places only sell USB. USB C should be a required standard.
  - zepto 6y ago
    For how long? How would you manage improvements?
- stanski 6y ago
  Oookay. Nevermind that all modern phones use usb-c, I guess?
  - zepto 6y ago
    Apple definitely doesn’t have a monopoly then.
  - mlazos 6y ago
    I’m going to go ahead and say it. Usb-c is a disaster. The promise of a cable that is universal ended up being a cable that looks the same as every other but u have no idea if it’s the right cable. Maybe in the next 10 years it will be fixed but from my POV this has not been a success or the panacea it was made out to be. You can actually brick stuff using the wrong usb-c cable and you will have no clue until it’s too late.
  - simonh 6y ago
    And Apple may well move to USB-C, in fact they already are for some devices at the pro end. As for 'standard' and easy availability, I'm pretty sure Lightning cables are more ubiquitous, and probably cheaper than USB-C still. There's certainly no shortage of them, I've got about half a dozen chargers and cables in the house right now. Nobody is pushing for Apple to adopt USB-C for my convenience, that's for sure.

Google234 6y ago

They are moving towards wireless charging which will solve that issue.

laurent92 6y ago
Wireless loses 1/3 of the energy. It requires 47% more energy, and even more when misaligned. https://debugger.medium.com/wireless-charging-is-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen-48afdde70ed9 https://debugger.medium.com/wireless-charging-is-a-disaster-...
- _huayra_ 6y ago
  The last time I had a wireless chargeable phone, the charger would get uncomfortably hot, which I assume degrades the battery as well. I understand wireless charging for my toothbrush (charging port = less waterproof), but it's such a "solution searching for a problem" for phones. Plugging in a cable just isn't that hard.
  - stingraycharles 6y ago
    I have an Anker wireless charging station, have not experienced any excessive heat. I have it on my desk so that I continuously charge my phone during the day, but am still able to pick it up all the time. It’s pretty nice but I agree it’s a gimmick, not a necessary problem to solve.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > I understand wireless charging for my toothbrush (charging port = less waterproof), but it’s such a “solution searching for a problem” for phones. The one awesome use case for phones is where the phone itself is a wireless charger, so you can do phone-to-phone charging when someone has a well charged phone and someone else has one about to die, without additional gear.
zakki 6y ago
Isn't the volume of the wireless charger bigger than the wired one? It may solve the cable issue, but not the environment one.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
freeone3000 6y ago
Most devices charge with USB-B, not wirelessly. If they wanted to skip to USB-C, sure, that's fine. Including wireless would have been a good idea five years ago, when it started becoming popular. It's still popular today, but it's way too slow for modern phone battery capacities.
- ksec 6y ago
  >Most devices charge with USB-B Do you mean USB- A?
  - freeone3000 6y ago
    No. A is the host port. B is the side that connects to the device, with micro-B being the most common.
    - ksec 6y ago
      >micro-B being the most common. I guess that is me sticking to Apple for long. I thought most Android devices has been on USB-C for 5 years?
      - freeone3000 6y ago
        It really depends on the price level of the phone. Non-flagship phones, like the Moto G9 and the Samsung A11, use micro-B and were released in 2019. USB-C is common in the $500+ market.
  - ce4 6y ago
    I guess, micro USB.
- google234123 6y ago
  Apple's one does 15W which is plenty.
  - freeone3000 6y ago

ksec 6y ago

>make a charging cable that wasn't so flimsy Agree, they looked at braided cable [1] which I hate as it is a dust magnet. And not doing something properly like Anker [2] which is a cable that refuse to break. ( As most cable should be ) >completely ditch Lightning so people could use more devices with the same cable That I disagree, there are billions of lightning cable out there. Ditching them for USB-C doesn't fix anything. [1] https://www.macrumors.com/2020/07/23/leaker-shares-images-braided-lightning-cable/ https://www.macrumors.com/2020/07/23/leaker-shares-images-br... [2] https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powerline-ii-3ft-lightning/A8432011 https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powerline-ii-3ft-ligh...

Daho0n 6y ago
This doesn't add up. In a world with Lightning for iphones and USB C for everything else there's a smaller chance of having the correct cable than in a world with USB C for iphones and everything else. Enforce a standard and the problem goes away. Just yesterday I had to connect my phone to a friend's USB connector in his car but couldn't because the only cable available were the freak that is one standard in one end and another in the other (IE. a standard iPhone cable with USB -> lightning).
- ksec 6y ago
  Everyone in the iPhone ecosystem already has lightning cable. That is 1 billion iPhone user with at least one lightning cable if not more. By enforcing a USB-C standard, you are throwing away one billion lightning cable. And as shown in your example, he has one. It works for him, it just happens not to work for non-Apple users. Which isn't a problem for Apple users. What is there to be gain for the current one billion iPhone user, 200M iPad user which are still on lightning ? I have room full of lightning cables and devices that use it, but zero USB-C devices. Arguably switching to Wireless ( MagSafe ) made sense from a UX perspective. Although I question whether we can resolve the fundamental physics issues which is efficiency and heat.

sneak 6y ago

Apple makes less than one half of one percent of their revenue from the entire MFi program, which includes all proprietary port licensing and cables - basically the entire lightning port ecosystem, including cables made by third parties. To them it's a trivial amount of money. Apple isn't concerned with making revenue from cables, this is a false meme that needs to die. https://sneak.berlin/20190330/apple-is-not-trying-to-screw-you/ https://sneak.berlin/20190330/apple-is-not-trying-to-screw-y...

gabrielsroka 6y ago
Apple's TTM revenue was $274B. So that's over $1B a year? I wouldn't throw away that kind of cash. Yes it's small as a percentage but it's still a very large number.

simonh 6y ago

Would ditching lightning really make finding a compatible cable easier. Which alternate cable should they have used? Mini-USB, Micro-USB A, Micro-USB B, USB Mini-b 4pin, USB Mini-b 5pin, UsB 3.0 Micro-B, Micro-USB AB, goodness knows what else. Lightning was a revelation. Rotationally symmetrical, fast, auto-negotiating, compact. It set the benchmark for what a mobile charging cable should be like.

Daho0n 6y ago
Of course it would. Any phone shop would have both kinds but lots of places only sell USB. USB C should be a required standard.
- zepto 6y ago
  For how long? How would you manage improvements?
stanski 6y ago
Oookay. Nevermind that all modern phones use usb-c, I guess?
- zepto 6y ago
  Apple definitely doesn’t have a monopoly then.
- mlazos 6y ago
  I’m going to go ahead and say it. Usb-c is a disaster. The promise of a cable that is universal ended up being a cable that looks the same as every other but u have no idea if it’s the right cable. Maybe in the next 10 years it will be fixed but from my POV this has not been a success or the panacea it was made out to be. You can actually brick stuff using the wrong usb-c cable and you will have no clue until it’s too late.
- simonh 6y ago
  And Apple may well move to USB-C, in fact they already are for some devices at the pro end. As for 'standard' and easy availability, I'm pretty sure Lightning cables are more ubiquitous, and probably cheaper than USB-C still. There's certainly no shortage of them, I've got about half a dozen chargers and cables in the house right now. Nobody is pushing for Apple to adopt USB-C for my convenience, that's for sure.