Apple is mandated by the EU to unify charger interface, iPhone also needs to change Type-C interface

Recently, on the issue of unifying the intelligent electronic device interface in the European region, the European Parliament defeated Apple with an overwhelming advantage of 582 to 40 votes. This bill stipulates that electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops must uniformly use USB-C.  Interface, which means that Apple has to accept these regulations, which means that there are three ways ahead:

Change the interface between iPhone and iPad to USB-C;

Remain the same, but may face embargoes in the European market;

As previously predicted, the interface on the iPhone will be completely eliminated, and all wireless technology will be used instead ...

After the announcement of the EU, Apple immediately opposed it publicly and stated that the EU ’s move would undermine innovation. It is also a waste of the original lightning wire. Apple stated that there are currently 1 billion devices using lightning wire.  If implemented, it will accelerate the obsolescence of these devices, causing obvious waste, and as a result of disrupting innovation, although Apple did not give a more specific explanation, related parties speculated that what Apple wants to express may hinder the creation of more advanced charging data transmission and multi-function  Innovative development of interfaces.

Apple ’s point of view makes some sense, but the industry ’s more view is that Apple is unwilling to give up the profit brought by Lightning wire, and Apple ’s accessories have always had a sound technical foundation, so the profit margins of wire and other accessories are not small.  It has a certain weight.  Not only iPhone accessories, but also iPad, MacBook and other products have formed a relatively complete product ecology. The EU's strong push for Type c interface will undoubtedly affect Apple's existing planning.

Of course, the EU also has a certain reason for this. Apple said that the waste of resources is mainly considered from the perspective of its own products, and the EU side believes that the inconsistency of the wire used in consumer electronics in the market will bring more.  Waste, from the perspective of product update, the existing Lightning interface cables that have been produced and sold in the market are sufficient to support Apple's existing equipment over the life span and will not have much impact.

At present, the mainstream mobile phone brands in Europe and the United States are mainly Apple, Samsung, Nokia, Huawei, MOTO, LG, HTC, BlackBerry, Sony Ericsson and other 15 brands. At present, except Apple, they have switched and adopted the TYPE C interface uniformly.  The previous requirements of the unified mobile phone charger standard issued by the European Union mainly advocated that everyone cares for the earth, save resources, and do not generate too much electronic waste. This effect is conceivable. Enterprises must use profit as the main operation.  This kind of environmental protection thing can only be hehe, not too much binding, not to mention that Trump has also withdrawn from the Global Climate Agreement, and from the current point of view, the EU must unify the Android and iPhone mobile phone chargers, the most influential manufacturers are undoubtedly  It is Apple. The charger for current smartphones is divided into the Lightning connector used by Apple and the microUSB or USB Type-C connector of the Android camp. At this stage, in order to form differentiated competition, Apple's willingness and demand for unified products are not strong.  And the unified interface is equivalent to smoothing out its differentiated quality characteristics, and as the ancestor of collecting copyright fees (Apple  There are several major considerations when using the Lightning connector alone. One is to differentiate other Android charger products for differentiation, and the other is to win the accessories market profit. After all, for Apple, the profit of the iPhone accessories market in its closed ecosystem.  It is also a big piece of meat, and Apple's MFI certification is also for this purpose, that is, manufacturers must obtain a MFi certification authorization to produce accessories, and parts manufacturers that have not obtained Apple certification will be restricted by certified chips. Apple has been  A specific serial number will be assigned to these parts suppliers, and a specific certification chip is included. Third-party parts manufacturers must join the Apple MFi project, sign an agreement, and pay the MFi license fee, and Apple has thus obtained a high profit share (  20% ~ 25%). In recent years, Apple has made a lot of money in MFI certification. Apple can pass the MFI certification and Lightning interface to ensure that it controls the accessories market and harvest a lot of profits. However, if the charger interface is unified, it means a variety of Android  Charger will work with Apple products, which means that Apple will not be able to control iPhone charging  Device accessories market profit), hurting its own huge benefits. Although the current charger interface between Android manufacturers is not unified, mainstream manufacturers have transitioned from microUSB to USB Type-C interface, Huawei,  Samsung, a mobile phone brand that occupies half of the country, has also joined the Type-C camp early. For consumers, if they have two mobile phones, Android and iPhone, this requires multiple charging cables. The experience is also poor.  Spend money. If you use a unified charging interface, then when consumers switch from one brand of mobile phone to another brand of mobile phone, there is no need to change the charger, which is good for consumers. Some users once pointed out  , The four USB-C ports on the MacBook Pro make it awkward to connect with the iPhone. To purchase extra converters, this tedious experience is not what users want, and unified charging interfaces, which not only helps reduce  Consumers repeatedly purchase the cost of charger accessories, which is also conducive to reducing the environmental damage caused by abandoned chargers. From the perspective of environmental protection, the EU ’s  In fact, it is commendable. For mobile phone manufacturers, the pursuit of maximizing business benefits, but ignoring the situation of electronic waste is getting more and more serious. I hope that the EU will be upset this time, and let Apple fall to the top.  It ’s only up to your own site.

The reason why most manufacturers are willing to switch to the Type-C interface is not known before, because it has many benefits. One is that it solves the problem of both positive and negative insertion. On the other hand,  It is the Type-C interface that can achieve faster charging and fast transmission. It can provide charging with a larger current of up to 100W, achieve the fastest transmission speed of 10Gbits / s, and also provide audio transmission. In addition, it is suitable for image frames.  The degree of damage during output is low. Once again, the Type-C interface has strong scalability. It not only has charging and data transmission functions, but also supports audio and video transmission functions. For example, Type-C can transmit audio and video signals and expand a variety of audio and video.  The output interface includes HDMI, DVI, VGA interfaces, and even can achieve the expansion of 4K resolution. Finally, there is a wide range of USB-C applications, which can be used in smart phones, PC / tablet, TV, wearable, car, home, etc.  In the field, these advantages Apple will not turn a blind eye, after all, when using the iPhone to charge or transfer data, the more universal USB data cable cannot be replaced, resulting in iPh  Users of the one and Android phones have to carry two different data cables when they go out. Obviously, the USB Type-C port represents another future besides Lighting, and the founder of Apple also said at the conference that "  USB Type-C will be the future of mobile phones ", and the USB C specification drafting unit also includes Apple. At present, the giants of the USB Association, standard formulation, interface chips, and consumer terminals are promoting the popularization of USB-C and pursuing sales among smartphone manufacturers  The process has a profound impact on the environment and ecology. Obviously, the European Union also requires Apple to play a role model in social responsibility. That is, business decisions need to consider environmental ecology rather than just their own profits.  There is nothing wrong with pursuing profit maximization, but how to take into account social interests and reduce pollution also need to be considered, because this does not have an effective response mechanism in most countries. From this perspective, the EU will unify the main targets of the unified interface.  

Apple, in fact, is not injustice, but the implementation of unified standards actually hurts Apple   Interests.

In the future, the unified interface should be the general trend, and the possibility of USB Type-C becoming the global unified standard is currently the greatest. If Apple really wants to give up the Lightning connector?  For enterprises, profit is always the decisive factor in marketing strategy.  In fact, Apple has begun to use the type c interface on the 2018 iPad Pro, and its family product MacBook series has already used the type c interface, which means that Apple is not unaware of the advanced nature of the type c interface at the technical level, more  The other is to consider their own market returns. Obviously, to reach a balance, Apple and the EU need to further negotiate and wait and see.