Apple Pulls Lightning-Equipped iPhones From Swiss Stores Ahead of EU USB-C Mandate

Apple has started pulling its iPhone SE and iPhone 14 models from sale in Switzerland, signaling broader discontinuation across the European Union ahead of new USB-C charging requirements taking effect December 28.

The devices, which use Apple's proprietary Lightning port, disappeared from Swiss online stores today. Switzerland, while not an EU member, follows EU market rules. Apple-authorized resellers can continue selling existing stock until depleted. A new USB-C compatible iPhone SE is expected in March.

USB requirement, not USB-C

[swillden]

Note that the EU is not requiring Apple to use USB-C, that sort of regulation would create a permanent lock-in to what may be a great connector now but might be superseded by improved options in the future. Instead, the EU is requiring the use of a USB standard. The USB-IF has a great track record of developing and standardizing improved technologies as the needs and capabilities of the industry change, and if Apple finds that none of the USB-approved standards fit their needs, they'll be able to propose new designs for standardization. Of course, if they come up with something really great and standardize it, they won't be able to prevent others from using it.

I'm generally opposed to government regulation that might block innovation, but I think the EU's approach here strikes a good balance between preventing vendor proprietary lock-in (and the resulting proliferation of connectors) and the freedom to innovate and improve. The goodness of this balance depends heavily on USB-IF continuing to be a well-functioning standards body, of course, but they have a good track record and I see no reason to expect that to change.

I think the EU did a similarly good job with mandating GSMA-approved standards for cellular communications and banning carrier lock-in (technological or contractual). This resulted in better, faster, cheaper cellular communications technology in the EU as compared with the US. GSMA innovated and improved GSM over the years, but the requirement that everyone use a GSMA-approved standard kept all the carriers competing on a level field.

Re:

[MacMann]

The parent post sounds like a suggestion that Apply submit Lightning as a standard connector for USB. This does contradict the next point that if Apple does this then Apple could not enforce quality of the products like they do with Lightning. Lightning predates USB-C, and it was because of the shortcomings of USB and their own 30-pin connector that they developed Lightning. I suspect Apple had prior knowledge of USB-C coming to market at some point as they were working on getting Lightning to market, an

Re: USB requirement, not USB-C

[drinkypoo]

"Lightning predates USB-C"

The release of lightning-equipped products predates the release of USB-C-equipped products, but the USB-C spec was brought to the USB-IF before the release of any such products.

Apple is a member of the USB-IF, so they knew it was coming before they ever released any products with lightning.

Apple had the option to bring lightning to the USB-IF as a proposed standard, but instead they chose to make it proprietary in a deliberately anticompetitive action which shows they are not good

Re:

[kqs]

Apple released the first USB-c laptop in 2015. Lightning pre-dates USB-c, but Apple could have made it work if they had wanted to. Instead, they decided that "USB-c is for computers, lightning is for smaller devices" (and eventually decided the iPad was a computer).

I kind of understand why Apple made that decision, though I think it was a bad decision. And I would be more pro-lightning if Apple hadn't kelp the lightning rights locked up for many years.

I welcome our USB overlords! I love bringing one cha

Re:

[drinkypoo]

I kind of understand why Apple made that decision, though I think it was a bad decision.

So long as you understand that they did it to get lockin and sell peripherals, OK. Their stupid chip (DRM in a cable? booooo) limited their maximum charging current and they had to go to Type C if they wanted to have a plug and a decent charge rate at the same time.

Anyhoo Type C is here now and it's awesome and it's cheap as hell. I just got an inline current meter and an OTG Y cable that fast charging actually works through for like five bucks. Soon I expect it will cost ten, so I've been buying a bunch of

Re:

[kqs]

Lock-in (and thus profit$$$) was a big issue, yes, but to be fair, a lot of initial USB-c cables (and some chargers) were very sketchy. Apple could guarantee good USB cables from the macbook charger to the MacBook air since people don't switch those out much, but for phones people used whatever charger/cables were nearby which could be forced into the ports. So that was an excuse for a few years, but yeah. mostly it's just the money.

Very early on I started buying only decent USB-c cables and chargers. Th

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Lock-in (and thus profit$$$) was a big issue, yes, but to be fair, a lot of initial USB-c cables (and some chargers) were very sketchy.

You can still buy bad cables and chargers, but IME even a very cheap and long cable will do the job pretty well for lower wattage specs. At 120W or 240W I start to care about cable quality.

I too bought a decent (Anker) USB-C charger and haven't had a problem with it. I plug into my PC to charge almost exclusively though, both my prior PC and this one would/will do USB-PD even with the machine off. On the new one it's a BIOS option, on the last one it could not be disabled. The new machine has one rear panel

Re:

[sonicmerlin]

I still remember Witricity’s magnetic wireless charging first demonstrated over several feet in 2007. Wish they could bring a product to market.

Re:

[MacMann]

Apple had the option to bring lightning to the USB-IF as a proposed standard, but instead they chose to make it proprietary in a deliberately anticompetitive action which shows they are not good faith members of the USB-IF.

How do you know they didn't offer Lightning as a standard? I suspect they did but were rejected, and the other members of USB-IF copied a lot of Apple's homework for USB-C.

The release of lightning-equipped products predates the release of USB-C-equipped products, but the USB-C spec was brought to the USB-IF before the release of any such products.

Sure, but you must know that it can take years for a spec to become a product. Apple was likely working on Lightning for a long time before USB-IF was working on USB-C, and that means a lot of investment in money. Apple had products to ship to keep customers happy and stay in business, they can't just stop their product pipeline hoping

Re:

[Barsteward]

I would have thought producing a proprietary standard would be a lot lot quicker than a universal one, less interested parties to satisfy i.e. just one

Re:

[drinkypoo]

How do you know they didn't offer Lightning as a standard?

We would know, because there would be documentation, and they would have told us to show how great they are.

I suspect they did but were rejected, and the other members of USB-IF copied a lot of Apple's homework for USB-C.

The two interfaces are different in every way, so no, and also no, as usual for your bullshit "suspicions" which are really just bullshit you want people to believe to make your other bullshit sound less stupid.

Re:

[MacMann]

We would know, because there would be documentation, and they would have told us to show how great they are.

Apple would have told us how great they are by announcing their Lightning connector was not adopted by USB-IF as a USB standard connector?

Here's a better idea on what Apple would try to prove their superiority. They'd adopt their own connector, rather than anything from USB-IF, and ship it out. Then let people compare USB and Lightning under real world conditions on which one is more capable, more durable, etc. It appears they've succeeded in this on some level since Apple products are very popular in sp

Re:

[sonicmerlin]

Yep apple’s cables are terrible. Then they add the security chip which makes off brand cables not work either, so you have to overpay for “Apple approved” cables, but even those sometimes don’t work right. They say it’s to protect the battery from unsafe cables but I haven’t had issues with my usb c iPad and haven’t heard of there being widespread issues.

Re: USB requirement, not USB-C

[Z00L00K]

Whatever connector selected there's going to be problems.

Re:

[thegarbz]

Completely false. The actual wording from the Radio Equipment Directive Annex Ia 2.2 : "be equipped with the USB Type-C receptacle, as described in the standard EN IEC 62680-1-3:2021 “Universal serial bus interfaces for data and power – Part 1-3: Common components – USB Type-C® Cable and Connector Specification”, and that receptacle shall remain accessible and operational at all times;"

But to your main point, the directive also has a 5 year refresh clause. If the USB-IF comes ou

I think it’s funny

[hdyoung]

I have no problem with the EU doing this. Sovereignity and all that. If they want to enforce a plug standard, it’s much like requiring all power outlets to be the same. No problem.

But Apple is laughing their a$$es off all the way to the bank. Oh no, you’re forcing us stop selling all our entry-level devices that use slightly older tech! Guess we’ll just *happen* to forget to update the plugs on all those low-profit product lines. Want an iphone? No cheap options now, baby! You can buy

Re:I think it’s funny

[test321]

Everything says the contrary
1. If Apple thought these devices were not profitable, they would not have marketed them in EU in the first place
2. If Apple was looking to remove these older products from the shops, they would not wait until the last possible day, and they would certainly would not wait until after Christmas purchases. They would have removed them last month, such that people would have to buy the "iphone 27 pro max ultra" this Christmas! TFA says they will remove these phones from sale in EU on Dec 28 (the last possible day; and after Christmas). For some reason they removed them one week ahead in Switzerland (maybe as a test to collect feedback on a smaller market before they do the same in the big one).
3. Finally, according to the summary, Apple will market new variants of the low-cost devices that are compliant, which is also difficult to conciliate with your hypothesis that Apple would use the new regulation as an excuse to not sell the low-cost variants.

Re:

[MacMann]

If they want to enforce a plug standard, itâ(TM)s much like requiring all power outlets to be the same. No problem.

I like the analogy but like all analogies it breaks down at some point.

On the back of many of my electronic devices in my office there's a 120VAC input that's a standard IEC C14 inlet. Some of my equipment have a different kind of 120VAC inlet. It's not a big deal, and I think little of it, because I'll certainly find a cord included with that piece of equipment to connect whatever inlet that may be to the standard outlets I'll find on the walls of my office. To carry that analogy to the iPhone Apple sho

Re:

[Octorian]

Um, a USB-C port *is* today's equivalent of that standard barrel connector. Except it actually is a standard connector, with standardized specs about what it can and cannot do.

Those barrel jacks have none of that. They come in a variety of sizes, a variety of configurations (both center-positive and center negative), both AC and DC, a variety of voltages, and a variety of current ratings.

Re:

[MacMann]

Once upon a time I remember needing to keep on hand a switchable voltage power supply that had a variety of barrel connectors in case of a wall wart power supply that came with my electronics had failed. I'm not sure exactly when it happened but something like 20 years ago I noticed that most every new device that came with a wall wart used either of two sizes of barrel connectors, and used either 5VDC or 12VDC. This was great for me since I would just keep old wall warts from failed electronics knowing t

Re:

[Phillip2]

As a result, I charge devices from 2W to 40W, with different voltages. I can plugin a mouse, screen, hard drive or a dock if I want to do all at the same time. I can easily get an off-the-shelf charger that will my laptop and three phones simultaneously of a single wall socket.

A barrel connector has, what two or three different connection points, compared to the 24 of USB. I agree that a plug with the symmetry of a circle is better than the USB-C which is only symmetrical in one direction. Hard to see that

Re:

[bn-7bc]

yea the barel jack is duraple and ritatable, but it has a few issues, it's power only so no data, you touvh on voltage, but you've also got the center negative vs centre positive issue, that could ofc be fixed by standard requirements and certification, but sinvce we have no barrel jack-IF. I think the EU made the right demission when they went usb-c, yes that only require the ussb-c poty to be there for charging, but now that it's there anyway it is probably so little extra cost implementing data as well t

Re:

[MacMann]

it's power only so no data

I consider that a more of a feature than a bug. There's cases of people having their devices compromised by using a hacked charger. Remove the data pins and the risk of a hack goes way, way, down. There's been hacks over power supplies before but that's a level of complexity that few will bother with.

you touvh on voltage

USB-PD and other systems worked out how to negotiate power transfer over a 2-wire system, this is a solved problem. It does break that rule somewhat on no data transfer but it's trivial to keep power negot

Re:

[thegarbz]

I would prefer cell phones to have a simple 12VDC barrel connector for charging. There's no "up" or "down" with a round connector, and finding a 12VDC power supply is trivial at home or while traveling, as most any plane, train, or automobile will have a 12VDC outlet for travelers to power up all kinds of portable devices.

Which one? There are about 15 different sized and shape barrel connectors. There is also zero standardised voltage for charging. Additionally there's zero standardised power capability on the charging equipment with a 12V barrel connector. Also 12V is a horrible voltage for charging USB devices which rely on variable voltage depending on how they charge their cells and what size cells they have (which is why USB-PD includes variable voltage delivery). If you as an airport want to provide a barrel connector

Re:

[MacMann]

Which one? There are about 15 different sized and shape barrel connectors.

I'm proposing that we use whichever size is already on half the wall wart power supplies in my house. I don't know what size it is exactly but it would be trivial to look it up on a spec sheet or measure it.

There is also zero standardised voltage for charging.

My point is to create a standard, one based on the de facto standard that is already in use on many consumer electronics.

Additionally there's zero standardised power capability on the charging equipment with a 12V barrel connector.

I know that, and I stated such before. I'm proposing we create a standard, a standard that is based on what I've seen as already commonly used to supply power to small household elec

Errm, Switzerland isn't in the EU

[Plumpaquatsch]

You bloody moron.

Re:

[MacMann]

From the fine summary:

Switzerland, while not an EU member, follows EU market rules.

Yep, not in the EU but they decided to play along with some EU rules to be a good neighbor.

Re:

[bn-7bc]

the decided to play along so they have friction free trade with one of the worlds largest free trade areas right on their own doorstep, a smart decision. The UK on the other hand voted to leave, a decision most people in the UK regret more everyday, poor brits they voted to shoot themselves in the foot

Re:

[Growlley]

No they don't - Those who voted for brexit delude themsleves thet are running through those sun lit uplands everday,

Re:

[thegarbz]

So what? EU laws don't actually apply to any country. Countries (including EU member nations) are required to individually pass laws that adopt EU directives. In this case Switzerland despite not being in the EU has in fact passed a law fully compliant with the EU Radio Equipment Directive and as such just like the rest of the EU on the 28th December 2024 it will be illegal to market and sell a phone in Switzerland that can't be charged via USB-C. They are also not the only country to do this.

Easy solution

[Vranitzky]

Easy solution: pull apple products from the market. End of drama. They have enough money, they don't need more.

Re:

[thegarbz]

That's literally what is happened. Apple is pulling non compliant devices from the market. Why do you repeat the summary pointlessly?