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Comment by akmarinov | Hacker News Reader

That's very interesting, not because the new iPhone would have a USB-C, but due to the fact that Apple continues selling older phones.

Currently they sell the SE, 11, 12 and 13

By 2024 they will be selling a SE, 13, 14 and 15. Will they rework the SE, 13 and 14 to get USB-C? Will they stop selling them just in Europe?

That's potentially a lot of money left on the table.

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For cars, changes like these are phased in multiple steps. For each car model, companies mass producing cars have to obtain a permit for the model. Then, they are allowed to sell those cars. At which point the individual owners get their cars registered at the government office.

The phasing in happens by first requiring it for permits for new models. The manufacturers can still build and sell older models. A few years later, the rule also applies to all first registration of new cars, to prevent car manufacturers to avoid the new rules by keeping to produce an older model.

IDK if something similar exists for electric household devices. For the famous light bulb ban, they introduced it via import and manufacturing restrictions, so you could still sell the light bulbs, and still can today, but you can't either build new light bulbs or (legally) get light bulbs from outside of the EU into the EU.

You could do the same for phones, just ban the imports at a specified date in the future so that the hardware can be readjusted in time.

Anyways, this only affects one manufacturer (Apple) and they don't have as much of a market share here as in the US.

Apple sells 50 million out of 250 million phones in the EU.

Imagine if their revenue drops by 20%...

With your numbers, that'd be 4% relative to the entire market, which is definitely something that Apple and the other phone manufacturers can deal with.

They will almost certainly be grandfathered in. Legislation nearly never retroactively applies to things created before the legislation itself.

That's a pretty huge leap. Just because a design existed before regulation doesn't mean you can keep making it after the regulation. I would be surprised if Apple was allowed to keep selling non-USB-C phones manufactured in winter 2024 or 2025. They will likely be allowed to sell existing inventory, maybe offer refurbished phones that aren't compliant.

As I read it, the new laws are concerned with the chargers more than the devices being charged - if Apple just includes a lightning to USB-C cable (as they already do for the 12), wouldn’t that be enough to satisfy the legislation?

I keep hearing that this is about waste, primarily chargers, as you point out. I wonder if the best solution is to just include neither a charger nor a cable. At this point I have USB chargers and cables for every situation in my life and any additional cable or charger would just be a waste, no matter if USB-C or -A. Have just the people who still need more chargers or cables buy those (or maybe reverb outlet covers with chargers built-in). Everyone else can safe some money and reduce future garbage.

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