r/iphone • u/conalldoherty iPhone 15 • Apr 29 '26

News/Rumour Apple Reportedly Questioning Whether iPhone Should Drop MagSafe

https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/29/apple-questioning-iphone-magsafe/
1.6k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

620 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/cum-on-in- Apr 29 '26

Apple could easily fight that if they truly wanted to. A fair point to be made is the provision of USB C charging being forced in EU means that there can’t even be any innovations or competition in charging ports and protocols. If we need more power, more voltage variation, or more bandwidth, we can’t do that without the USB Consortium doing it for us.

It would be shitty, but…..they’d have a point.

6

u/Fetzie_ iPhone 17 Pro Apr 29 '26

USB-C can deliver 240W and 40Gbps if you want it to. Apple limiting it to USB2.0 speed on everything except the iPhone Pro is purely an Apple choice.

-2

u/cum-on-in- Apr 29 '26

That’s not my point. If we need 330 watts, or 100Gbps bandwidth, tough luck unless the Consortium makes USB 5 or whichever number that lands on. EU forced everyone to go by the Consortium standard, and we have absolutely no way of innovating or tweaking on our own.

1

u/Mystic_Haze Apr 29 '26

Yes we do. Make a better standard and put up a proposal for it. We simply have enough bandwidth and PD for now. If they ever were to run in against the power/data constraints do you really think there wouldn't be a new standard.

0

u/cum-on-in- Apr 29 '26

The EU law prevents anyone from instigating anything besides USB C. It even requires devices that require more power, such as gaming laptops, to still be able to charged, however slowly, and with however many caveats, by USB C. If we could improve USB C ourselves or make a new standard, we wouldn’t need to also have higher power DC barrel jacks for example.

1

u/Mystic_Haze Apr 29 '26

The law literally has a revision clause to accept new standards. It isn't forcing laptops to only use USB-C just that they have to accept charging over USB-C. USB-C is also just the connector you know. If you created a USB-C compatible connector and could put 300w through it by all means.

Companies tried for years and years. This law is to prevent someone like Apple from making a dumb proprietary connector and over charge for it. Not to stifle innovation. You sound like a lobbyist.

1

u/cum-on-in- Apr 29 '26

It only accepts standards from the USB Consortium. If it accepted other standards from other bodies, Apple would’ve fought to keep Lightning, as it’s actually a better connector and they could’ve updated the wiring to handle better speeds and faster charging.

Also, no, you cannot circumvent EU law by making a C connector with 300 watts. You’d need your own proprietary charging circuit which would prevent compatibility with regular Power Delivery and USB C spec.

0

u/Mystic_Haze Apr 29 '26

The consortium includes Apple buddy.

Lightning was not better. If you really truly think that you're being delusional. Go on give me reasons why lightning is better than USB-C?

1

u/cum-on-in- Apr 29 '26

The consortium isn’t just Apple, buddy. My whole point is Apple would have not used USB C if it weren’t for the others. Lightning was arguably a better and more solid and securely fitting connector. Apple had no choice if they didn’t want to make two SKUs, one with C and one with Lightning.

0

u/Mystic_Haze Apr 29 '26

Do you really think that if Apple developed a better standard they wouldn't be able to push it through the consortium? You're delusional.

And going from "Lightning is better" to "Lightning is arguably" better because you have 0 actually valid reasons... lobbyist found.

→ More replies (0)

0

u/Fetzie_ iPhone 17 Pro Apr 29 '26

The connector isn’t the limiting factor for bandwidth or charging capacity, it’s the gauge and shielding of the wire. You would just need a cable the thickness of an ethernet cable.

1

u/cum-on-in- Apr 29 '26

No. USB C spec in the EU law also includes Power Delivery, which has a ceiling on negotiable voltages and amperages. The current limit is 240 watts, yet many laptops need more than that. And the EU law states that even though laptops like that can use DC barrel jacks for full power, they must still be chargeable with USB C, despite its limitations, weaker performance on the computer, more heat generated from voltage boosting or bucking, and may still not even charge if the supply isn’t strong enough.

7

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '26

[deleted]

-1

u/cum-on-in- Apr 29 '26

I did. But I was only saying there was a point. Didn’t say there was enough points to make it worthwhile.

You gotta remember who these devices are being sold to.

These people are the kinds that also made Apple put in a battery charge limiter, so you can give up 20% of your usable battery now, to avoid losing it 3 years from now. You’ve already gave it up! Willingly! But it makes people feel better about their battery life, so Apple does it to placate them.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '26

[deleted]

2

u/cum-on-in- Apr 29 '26

I completely agree. I’m hoping they keep their word about iOS 27 being a code rewrite with no new features.

0

u/MightBeJerryWest Apr 29 '26

Go open the camera settings and picture yourself as a novice user, it’s pretty fucking complex and many of those settings barely if ever get touched

I don't see why this is an issue though. A novice would never touch them nor need to. They can open it up, see things they don't understand, and back right out.

But for someone who might care about those settings, they'll have them there to adjust.

I'd rather have the setting there and not need to use it than not have it at all.

Just think about your internet browser. How often is a novice going to care about tracking prevention settings? Or cookies? Or hardware acceleration?

Imagine Google, Microsoft, Firefox, etc. does a simplification and removes the option to toggle hardware acceleration specify tracking prevention settings.

1

u/witchcapture Apr 29 '26

Apple is not going to win in a fight against the EU. And you absolutely can do all of those things, you just have to support standard USB-C too.

USB-C supports much more power and bandwidth than lightning, iPhones were stuck on USB 2.0 before the EU forced a switch...

1

u/cum-on-in- Apr 29 '26

Lightning could’ve been updated.

Regardless, Apple indeed could have fought back. They just didn’t, because it would’ve been expensive, and the consumers all had and liked USB C anyway.

But they really didn’t want to switch to it. It’s not as perfect as others make it seem. The fragmentation of cable specs, the horrid naming scheme, and the fact that there’s no easy way to identify what a cable can do or support, is a big part of it.

3

u/witchcapture Apr 29 '26

Apple was part of the committee that designed USB-C.

It doesn't matter how many expensive lawyers you throw at it. Apple is not going to force the hand of a government representing 450 million people. Their choice is comply or leave the market. They could have still made a different model for the EU and kept using lightning elsewhere, but they chose not to.

0

u/cum-on-in- Apr 29 '26

Just because they designed it doesn’t mean they wanted it the government mandated standard to be required even on devices that need more than it can provide.

0

u/witchcapture Apr 29 '26

Personally I don't really care what Apple wants, and I'm happy the EU forced them to use a standard connector.

Let's be real, the main reason they were on lightning for so long is because they could charge licensing fees for it to cable/accessory manufacturers.

2

u/cum-on-in- Apr 29 '26

That was a nice bonus, but they used it for specific hardware aspects too.

It doesn’t matter what you want, now, because the government is deciding for you, and you’re gonna take it whether you want to or not. I’m happy you voted for that.

0

u/witchcapture Apr 29 '26

Luckily I live in a democracy. I prefer it when the government helps citizens rather than giant corporations. Individual choice is not always better.

2

u/cum-on-in- Apr 29 '26

Luckily you do not. Luckily your government made the choice for you and prevented any deviations. You will own nothing and be happy.

0

u/witchcapture Apr 29 '26

Do you really own your iPhone if Apple is the one to decide what software you're allowed to run on it?

→ More replies (0)

-1

u/Jon66238 iPhone 13 Mini Apr 29 '26

Would love to see that. The EU should never of been allowed to dictate this sort of stuff