USB-C will be mandatory on all phones sold in the EU by end of 2024

[WouldBe]

Won’t work for lots of devices because the power requirements can be up to 100w on usb c. Your suggestion would work for small devices, but on planes and trains they need to be incredibly hard wearing, hard to steal and if near a standard plug can’t block the plug working.

According to this Deal on common charger: reducing hassle for consumers and curbing e-waste | News | European Parliament laptops get a 40 month delay from autumn 2024, so that’s spring 2028 for laptops.

Alex

You could provide your own adapter or how about the manufacturer including a USB C to USB A cable with the device so you can plug it into existing USB A power sockets.

As to the power that can be delivered if a phone can manage on a USB A cable and socket at the moment it won't need the extra power capacity of USB C so will be fine with either an adapter or adapter cable.

 

[editor]

Another reason why retaining headphones jack is a good idea

Wireless headphones and earbuds with an optional cord still can function passively after the batteries die, as long as your mobile device has a headphone jack (or you have an adapter cable). Even if they cease to be your daily go-to headphones, they aren’t garbage

According to a report by Futuresource Consulting, true wireless earbuds are expected to account for two-thirds of the earbuds market by 2023.
But here’s the awful truth: In a few years, nearly every one of those millions of pairs of earbuds will be in a landfill.

How long should you expect your earbuds’ batteries to last? It depends. As Mark explained to us, a lot of factors can impact battery life—including how often you use your earbuds, how frequently you charge them and leave them plugged in, how often you expose them to extreme temperatures, and how often you take calls or use active noise cancellation (both of which draw a high amount of power). So the same pair of headphones that craps out on one person after two years might last another person closer to four years. But it’s only a matter of time before the technology grim reaper comes calling.

But what’s eating at me is the environmental impact. Very often, people just drop broken earbuds into the trash (which you shouldn’t do, as it could lead to a literal trash fire). And even those who endeavor to recycle properly may find that the system they trust to reduce and reuse is deeply flawed. A 2017 United Nations Global E-waste Monitor report (PDF) stated that, of the world’s nearly 45 million metric tons of e-waste, only 20 percent was recycled through proper channels. Many “recyclers” ship the e-waste abroad, where much of it isn’t truly recycled. A small amount of usable parts might be repurposed, and valuable minerals are extracted, but this process has negative environmental impacts of its own. The prevailing methods can lead to unsafe conditions for workers and the surrounding areas. For example, the process for recovering gold (which is commonly used in electronics due to its conductive abilities) involves “bathing circuit boards in nitric and hydrochloric acid, thus poisoning waterways and communities.” Whatever is not deemed useful is dumped in the ground.

Your Wireless Earbuds Are Trash (Eventually)

Wireless earbuds are great, but their small batteries have a limited lifespan. Are you willing to sacrifice longevity for convenience?

www.nytimes.com

 

[souljacker]

Easy to replace a 3.5 jack plug.

Yeah, but you need to solder and that will just break again on a device used that much. I wouldn't bother personally.

 

[platinumsage]

Is there an exmeption to this law so future phones can be made without any cables at all, purely wireless for both charging and data, or will such a phone be required to have a dummy UB-C socket?

 

[editor]

Is there an exmeption to this law so future phones can be made without any cables at all, purely wireless for both charging and data, or will such a phone be required to have a dummy UB-C socket?

So you're arguing for less choice, like you prefer less choice when it comes to sound output?

Make the fuckers include a USB-C socket. There's a climate crisis going on, in case you haven't noticed.

Wireless Charging Is a Disaster Waiting to Happen

We crunched the numbers on just how inefficient wireless charging is — and the results are pretty shocking

debugger.medium.com

 

[editor]

Yeah, but you need to solder and that will just break again on a device used that much. I wouldn't bother personally.

Difference is that they can be fixed. Manufacturers have no interest in making wireless earphones fixable - despite them using up far more valuable resources to be created in the first place.

While some true wireless earbuds, such as Apple’s AirPods and AirPods Pro, are unrepairable once the battery dies, others, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Buds and Jabra’s Elite 75t, would need only minor alterations in design to make them fixable. Taylor Dixon of iFixit took apart several Bluetooth earbuds and found that often the only hurdle preventing battery replacement would be a change in glue or using battery clips rather than relying on solder.

Your Wireless Earbuds Are Trash (Eventually)

Wireless earbuds are great, but their small batteries have a limited lifespan. Are you willing to sacrifice longevity for convenience?

www.nytimes.com

 

[platinumsage]

So you're arguing for less choice, like you prefer less choice when it comes to sound output?

Make the fuckers include a USB-C socket. There's a climate crisis going on, in case you haven't noticed.

Wireless Charging Is a Disaster Waiting to Happen

We crunched the numbers on just how inefficient wireless charging is — and the results are pretty shocking

debugger.medium.com

There's great potential for wireless charging to become far more effecient with innovation, but that won't happen if phones are required to have a USB-C socket.

 

[souljacker]

Difference is that they can be fixed. Manufacturers have no interest in making wireless earphones fixable - despite them using up far more valuable resources to be created in the first place.

Your Wireless Earbuds Are Trash (Eventually)

Wireless earbuds are great, but their small batteries have a limited lifespan. Are you willing to sacrifice longevity for convenience?

www.nytimes.com

Maybe one day we'll get that 'right to repair' law passed. I'm not holding my breath though.

 

[editor]

There's great potential for wireless charging to become far more effecient with innovation, but that won't happen if phones are required to have a USB-C socket.

Love to learn how wireless charging is going to become more efficient than a direct wired cable connection. What studies have you seen that suggest that this is likely to happen in the near future?
Or are you OK with encouraging more wasteful charging?

 

[pesh]

What? Wireless headphones create far more waste, being sold as essentially throwaway items (after a year or so) and needing more resources to create them and coming with batteries that can't easily be replaced.

Not in our house. My partner was going through a set of cheap wired headphones every 6-12 months for years, then I got her a £50 pair of wireless headphones and they're still going strong 4 years later.

 

[platinumsage]

Love to learn how wireless charging is going to become more efficient than a direct wired cable connection. What studies have you seen that suggest that this is likely to happen in the near future?

I'd love to learn too, but now I'm sure all the manufacturers will be shelving their plans and we'll never hear of it.

 

[editor]

Not in our house. My partner was going through a set of cheap wired headphones every 6-12 months for years, then I got her a £50 pair of wireless headphones and they're still going strong 4 years later.

My £50 wired headphones have lasted over a decade. I'm not surprised cheap wired headphones break though. How long do you think similarly cheap wireless headphones would last before they become unrepairable?

 

[editor]

I'd love to learn too, but now I'm sure all the manufacturers will be shelving their plans and we'll never hear of it.

What a ludicrous logic!

 

[pesh]

My £50 wired headphones have lasted over a decade. I'm not surprised cheap wired headphones break though. How long do you think similarly cheap wireless headphones would last before they become unrepairable?

considerably longer than 6-12 months.

 

[editor]

considerably longer than 6-12 months.

But then ultimately end up the bin, taking more resources into landfill.

I've had plenty of cheap earphones that have lasted way more than 6-12 months by the way, so you must have been especially unfortunate.

 

[DaphneM]

What will happen by the time USB charging is compulsory is that Apple will do wireless charging but make it work.

Android manufacturers will feel the need to keep up but fail to make it work.

Android users froth with spitting fury

 

[UnderOpenSky]

What will happen by the time USB charging is compulsory is that Apple will do wireless charging but make it work.

Android manufacturers will feel the need to keep up but fail to make it work.

Android users froth with spitting fury

Android has had wireless charging for years. My S8 had it ages ago. Why do you think it doesn't work?

 

[alex_]

You could provide your own adapter or how about the manufacturer including a USB C to USB A cable with the device so you can plug it into existing USB A power sockets.

As to the power that can be delivered if a phone can manage on a USB A cable and socket at the moment it won't need the extra power capacity of USB C so will be fine with either an adapter or adapter cable.

I think it’s very credible that usb a is an endangered species in 6 years time.

 

[alex_]

Android has had wireless charging for years. My S8 had it ages ago. Why do you think it doesn't work?

This isn’t a bad thing.

 

[WouldBe]

Love to learn how wireless charging is going to become more efficient than a direct wired cable connection.

Wireless charging can never be more efficient than a direct connection due to losses in the magnetic fields.

The only way they could be more efficient is to do like you do in a transformer and have a ferrite core that links the primary windings in the charger with the secondary windings in the phone but that would mean having to have a port in the phone that the core could plug into so may as well just plug a lead in.

 

[WouldBe]

I think it’s very credible that usb a is an endangered species in 6 years time.

Doubt it as it would mean everyone having to change USB power sockets in their houses, computers, cars etc which would cost a fortune.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

This isn’t a bad thing.

I know. I was surprised at DaphneM saying that Android would follow Apple when it's not the case.

Personally I can't be bothered, but there's no harm in having both options.

 

[alex_]

Doubt it as it would mean everyone having to change USB power sockets in their houses, computers, cars etc which would cost a fortune.

Usb c charging has already been available in many laptops for a couple of years - hp elitebooks since 2017, usb-c isn’t brand new.

Cars are a bit different - no one expects to charge their laptop in a car.

 

[WouldBe]

Usb c charging has already been available in many laptops for a couple of years - hp elitebooks since 2017, usb-c isn’t brand new.

I meant the USB A sockets that are built into 13A sockets you can get in your house etc.

 

[editor]

What will happen by the time USB charging is compulsory is that Apple will do wireless charging but make it work.

Android manufacturers will feel the need to keep up but fail to make it work.

Android users froth with spitting fury

You really don't have much of a clue when it comes to tech, do you?

 

[editor]

Android has had wireless charging for years. My S8 had it ages ago. Why do you think it doesn't work?

The Palm Pre had wireless charging as far back as 2009. It worked fine.

What the iPhone X borrowed from the Palm Pre

2009, meet 2017

www.theverge.com

 

[alex_]

I meant the USB A sockets that are built into 13A sockets you can get in your house etc.

Yup I’ve got those to, guess I’ll replace them eventually.

What I expect to happen is that the usb a you see in the public realm will be replaced with c over the next few years - this is because of the cost of supporting them.

If it doesn’t charge your device - users don’t understand that this is because the wattage is too low, all they know is that “this USB port is broken”.

 

[editor]

Yup I’ve got those to, guess I’ll replace them eventually.

What I expect to happen is that the usb a you see in the public realm will be replaced with c over the next few years - this is because of the cost of supporting them.

If it doesn’t charge your device - users don’t understand that this is because the wattage is too low, all they know is that “this USB port is broken”.

I've found that my USB-C phone/laptop will charge on a low charge USB-A outlet but it just takes a lot longer - so its not a problem if I'm in a hotel and leave it to charge overnight.

 

[magneze]

London buses seem to be being fitted with USB-A on each seat. Just in time.

 

[pogofish]

The Palm Pre had wireless charging as far back as 2009. It worked fine.

What the iPhone X borrowed from the Palm Pre

2009, meet 2017

www.theverge.com

We had this thread back in 2009 too - It also worked fine!

Universal charger for phones plan

I've always been annoyed that I seem to end up with a pile of perfectly servicable chargers when I upgrade my phone. It seems the mobile phone industry have finally accepted the waste involved. The world's biggest mobile phone makers and network operators have backed plans to create a...

www.urban75.net