Thanks to the European Union, you can finally charge the iPhone 15 via USB-C. As a result, I am now left with cables that I can no longer use and an expensive dongle. I hate it already.
iPhone 15 with USB-C: about time (in principle)
During the big iPhone 15 presentation, Apple kept the bottom of the new smartphone hidden for a remarkably long time, but then the big word came out: the iPhone 15 will no longer charge with Lightning, but via USB-C. Apple stated that USB-C is a universally accepted standard and is therefore used in the new iPhone.
Apple could have known that earlier, after all, the company already released a MacBook with USB-C in 2016. Since then, you have been able to charge your Mac or connect accessories to it with this connection. But have you had a MacBook and an iPhone in recent years? Then you had to use different cables.
Apple really presented the change during its iPhone 15 event as an innovation to be able to charge all your devices with the same cable from now on. A new version of the AirPods Pro 2 has even been announced with USB-C.
Choice of the European Union
Yet this was not Apple’s choice. The European Union has new rules to combat e-waste, meaning that mobile devices released in the EU must all have a USB-C connection. Officially, this law will only come into effect at the end of 2024, but Apple naturally wants to sell the iPhone 15 for a few more years. The company therefore had to admit with a sigh and support that the European Union now partly determines the design of its devices.
If it had been up to Apple, the company would undoubtedly have continued with Lightning for a while. This partly has to do with quality control. Good Lighting cables and chargers have a ‘Made for iPhone’ certification, while there is more proliferation of USB-C.
In addition, Apple also wanted to keep people in the safe Apple ecocyst. If you already have all kinds of accessories that connect via Lightning, you are less likely to switch to another brand with a different connection.
It’s a shame, I have to throw away cables
Apple has long argued that switching from Lighting to USB-C would only create more e-waste as people have to throw away their old cables. Something the company had no trouble with at all when it introduced Lightning instead of the 30-pin connector that was used before. Already a striking choice at the time, because the rest of the market had switched to micro-USB as the new universal standard.
Due to our rigid adherence to Lightning, we are now left with accessories and cables that will soon be of no use to us. Apple’s solution is of course another dongle. For 35 euros you can buy a ‘USB-C to Lightning adapter’ in the Apple Store so that you can continue to use your favorite accessories with a Lightning cable. In short: it’s nice that Apple has finally switched, but for now I still hate it. Enormous.
More about the iPhone 15 event
During the Apple Event on September 12, not only was the iPhone 15 announced, but of course a super-fast iPhone 15 Pro was also unveiled. And how about the new Apple Watch Series 9?