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After being forced to standardise to usb c and be responsible for some of the e-waste it produces, apple has finally relented.
They fought tooth and nail against the EU regulations to force charging standards. I don't care if they up sell cables to some people; most people will reuse what they have and thats the whole point of the regulations.
Regulation works.
They transitioned most of their devices to usb save the iPhone before the EU legislation went into effect.
Apple caught shit for going USB-C only on their laptops years ago.
It's fine if they reduce the price accordingly.
If it's still the same price after they take the cable out, it was never about reducing waste to begin with.
Knowing Apple, that wouldn't surprise me in the slightest, which is why I never have and never will own any of their products.
Adjusted for inflation, last years 15 was $827.
The base 16 is $800 and a separate USB C cable from Apple is about $20 for 1m and $30 for 2m.
So, if you buy a phone and cable, you’re spending about as much as you did last year, adjusting for inflation.
I don’t know why I just wasted all that time calculating that. I need to get a life.
well..by selling both the cable and wall adapter as separate items it doubles the packaging by necessity so it was still never about reducing waste
which is why I never have and never will own any of their products.
✊👍
I’m not going to defend Apple’s profit maximization strategy here, but I disagree. Most people won’t end up buying a cable and adaptare because they already have one, and in contrast to those pieces made of plastic and metal, the packaging is mostly made of paper. I’m pretty confident that the reduction in plastic and metal makes up for the extra packaging that’s produced for the minority that does buy a cable and/or adapter.
I honestly can't be mad at this point because what they SHOULD do is sell cables in bulk packaging to the Apple store, and then when they sell a phone they say "Do you need a USB cable? Free with the phone." If they say "No we're okay I've got hundreds of them by now" no problem, if they say "Yeah in fact can I get two?" Sure. Same with chargers. Of course this is Apple we're talking about, so they're probably $69.99 each.
As long as a standard "unblessed" usb-c cable will work fully with the phone it's non-issue.
I don't get why even use their "blessed" hardware.
When I was at school, a few things made me want it:
Apple was still kinda fine back then, playing nice with FOSS community;
I had good memories from using QuickTime under Windows 2000;
I've been Jobswashed by a few books for kids saying how innovative he was;
I had a PSP, it was really cool to use for listening to music, playing games, reading books in the Web (over wi-fi) and even Skype, and I thought iPhones seem kinda similar;
I was possessed by imitated (was bored, wanted to feel something real and heroic) romantic feelings and real (bright hair, greenish-gray eyes, warm smile, subtle voice, and at that moment she seemed intelligent and nice ; turned out not as honest though) sexual desire of one girl who had an iPhone, a perfect product placement, one can say;
Apple's UIs back then seemed very usable, only later I actually tried them and realized that even Windows makes me less furious;
It still wasn't today's Apple, they seemed trustworthy.
None of this applies today.
One exception nowadays: Business notebooks - and that's only because the rest of the notebook market went to shit. If you want a somewhat compact notebook with more than 64GB of RAM, decent CPU performance and good battery life Apple currently is the only one offering something.
fear not you can buy an apple magic connector for just $60
Probably runs at usb2 speed and charges at 5w.
Next step: Apple removes hardware from box and ships aspiration only.
For me this would mostly be a non-issue. I’ve got enough extra USB-C cables that I don’t even unwrap the ones Apple has been shipping. Not to mention that I’m pretty used to charging my AirPods via MagSafe these days anyway.
If I send you an address can you ship some extras, mine seem to die or you get ones that are only 4inches long with something. Throw in that now many devices only have USB C on both ends so your last phone that sold with a USB A to USB C cord, that no longer plugs into new devices, I am always at a shortage.
The 4 inch ones are awesome! I have a whole collection of different 4 inch cables for when I travel, and for when I take my laptop to the cafe. They're also great for microcontrollers, like the mouse jiggler I made from a pico 2040.
Next up: you have to buy the box first, which is empty. Then you can buy the phone. No box? No phone.
And then you'll buy the phone but the screen is sold separately.
WiFi connection? Monthly subscription.
No, that would make it too easy to do third-party screen repairs. Apple wouldn't allow that...
Now, Apple might argue that they’re being environmentally conscious by reducing packaging waste. That’s a fair point,
It isn't... That's like not flushing the toilet in a public bathroom to "save water"
Why even have a box at this point? Just put the phone in the mail by itself, it's durable right?
They should remove the USB-C ports, so you have to send it back to Apple for charging
But what about ... new users entering the Apple ecosystem?
What ecosystem do they think people are coming from where they didn’t already have a USB C cable or wireless charger?
EDIT: This refers only to the new Airpods, not to iPhones. iPhones still come with a charging cable.
Final step would be to remove the phone from the box. They would do world a favor.
Yet more proof that Apple has ceased to be an innovator that adds features to phones and now takes things away and leaves it to fans to make up justifications for it.
They're still innovating, especially when it comes to shareholder profits
Apple: As long as we can gaslight you into thinking we're classy, we can do whatever the fuck we want
The Pixel Buds don't ship with a cable either.
Important to note that they removed the cable from the AirPod 4’s box, not the iPhone’s. They are also not the first company to do this.
But cables wear out.
Agreed. The life of a phone includes multiple cables (unless someone here knows some trick I don't), so including OEM hardware that's tested and recommended for the device is great and I wish it were still standard. Phone manufacturers not including parts that they still sell separately seems to have little to do with environmentalism/conservation and much to do with profits.
I've used the same cables for years with no problem. You don't yank them out of ports using the strand, you don't stress the connectors by winding tightly or making them bend at sharp angles and just treat them with care.
On the contrary, I've had a USB cable last multiple phones before. I think the trick is to avoid using it when it's plugged in as much as possible. Another common pitfall is that microfiber (pocket lint) can build up in the charging port over months and years, resulting in a poor connection. You can usually remove this by turning the phone off and using the tip of a wooden toothpick to gently scrape out the lint.
I definitely think they should include a cable in the box though.
I'm all for it IF the cable is provided for free on demand to 0,001% of customers who happen to not have one. I have a separate drawer for all my extra usb C and micro usb cables which come with random electronics which I feel bad just throwing in the trash but I know I'll never need.
When do they start removing the phones from the boxes?
Lucky you! They never offered a phone in the AirPods boxes.
Are we running out of things to get mad about?
No, it's just that our energy is directed at the US election, and that's not relevant to this community.
We'll get back to our normal tech angst sometime after November.
