The European Union has mandated that all smartphones sold in its member countries utilize the port if they have a physical charger, which has led Apple to make its most direct indication yet that a USB-C-equipped iPhone is on the way. Joanna Stern of The Wall Street Journal questioned Apple marketing director Greg Joswiak about whether the business will replace Lightning. Joswiak responded, “Obviously we’ll have to comply, we have no choice.”
During a conversation with Joswiak and software VP Craig Federighi at the WSJ’s Tech Live conference, Stern brought up the law and then inquired as to when we might anticipate seeing USB-C on an iPhone. The Europeans are the ones setting the timing for European customers, Joswiak retorted.
He did, however, make it clearly apparent that Apple is not pleased about being forced by law to make the change. Joswiak went into great detail about how Apple has always preferred to go its own way and trust its engineers rather than be coerced into embracing hardware standards by legislators before recognizing that the firm must abide by the law. He gave examples of how Apple has been pressured to meet unreasonable criteria, such as Micro USB and hearing aid compatibility.
Additionally, he asserted that the standards issue has been mostly resolved by charging bricks with detachable connections and that upgrading the iPhone from Lightning to USB-C will generate a significant amount of electronic waste. (In my opinion, this is a weak argument; I have to replace the majority of my Lightning cables every few years, roughly at the same rate as I purchase new phones, because they break or get chewed on by cats.)
But what wasn’t stated is telling: a portless iPhone that uses only wireless charging, which is something that should be legal. Joswiak didn’t mention that the business was examining its options or looking into potential workarounds for the necessity of including USB-C on the iPhone.
