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> Now no one is ever able to improve on the connector reliability because the EU has frozen the design forever by enshrining it into law? The EU has made it cl

> Now no one is ever able to improve on the connector reliability because the EU has frozen the design forever by enshrining it into law? The EU has made it clear that if the manufacturers get together and come up with a replacement, technically superior standard, then it will be permitted. However, there isn't one on the horizon anytime soon because USB-C doesn't really have any weaknesses requiring a new connector right now. > The Lightning connector was superior in many ways. I have no idea why everyone is celebrating this downgrade. Faster speeds, but primarily consistency with other devices. I can certify that when you travel with a MacBook, Nintendo Switch, iPad, Portable Soundbar, Battery Pack, and they all use USB-C... the iPhone that uses Lightning gets pretty annoying very quickly. To be honest, part of me wondered if Apple could have gotten away (even though it would have caused shock) with 2 connectors on the iPhone. Lightning on the bottom where it had always been, USB-C on the left side with the volume switches and SIM card tray, just for the EU market. Would've been compliant but the EU would've been furious.

swamp40 3y ago
> if the manufacturers get together and come up with a replacement, technically superior standard, then it will be permitted You can see how that is next to impossible, though. You need to test in millions of phones over several years to verify that something is good. Which means it has to get into production. But that isn't allowed. A Catch-22 situation.
- mlyle 3y ago
  "Verifying something is good" in that sense isn't required. If there's some other connector that looks compelling for charging and data, phone makers can get together and adopt it, too. We don't need phone-specific experience or to have done an A/B test with tons of statistical power. USB-C ain't perfect. But it's pretty tough to beat. There's also room for incremental improvements in reliability and functionality within the standard, too. At some point, just living with something as the standard is the way to go-- rather than hoping something new will be worth forklifting all the infrastructure and/or splitting the market.

swamp40 3y ago

> if the manufacturers get together and come up with a replacement, technically superior standard, then it will be permitted You can see how that is next to impossible, though. You need to test in millions of phones over several years to verify that something is good. Which means it has to get into production. But that isn't allowed. A Catch-22 situation.

mlyle 3y ago
"Verifying something is good" in that sense isn't required. If there's some other connector that looks compelling for charging and data, phone makers can get together and adopt it, too. We don't need phone-specific experience or to have done an A/B test with tons of statistical power. USB-C ain't perfect. But it's pretty tough to beat. There's also room for incremental improvements in reliability and functionality within the standard, too. At some point, just living with something as the standard is the way to go-- rather than hoping something new will be worth forklifting all the infrastructure and/or splitting the market.