Well... I agree with the spirit of the effort, but not the letter of it.
>>> From spring 2026, the obligation will extend to laptops
So this would force Apple to replace MagSafe with USB-C? How is that not killing innovation?
Standardisation should be a goal, but I just feel this particular effort is too specific and brings very little value to consumers. Why don't we standardise payment protocols instead? Or biometric identity verification? Or ID cards even (that the UK is allergic to)? I just feel the spirit of these efforts can be applied so much more successfully elsewhere.
My MacBook can charge with USB-C and MagSafe. If iphones had both a USB-C and a lightning connectors, this law would probably not have been pushed through.
All taht is already standardized btw. The countries do have some leeway in their implementation though, that's whay the EU driving license was quite quickly adopted in some countries, and very slowly in others (mine...).
My MacBook currently has 4 USB-C ports that I can pick to charge from.
My last Macbook had 5? different ports on it, two of which were older USB standards.
Nothing stops apple from ALSO having a proprietary connector, as long as USB-C is still an option to charge.
> Why don't we standardise payment protocols instead? Or biometric identity verification? Or ID cards even (that the UK is allergic to)?
None of these result in hundreds of thousands of tons of plastic and copper or other metals being put in a landfill or dumped in the sea because they were only useful for 3-5 models of a single businesses devices.
Apple is still free to make this e-waste, but now their devices must support charging on USB-C, which they are free to NOT make their own chargers for, as long as it's standard-compliant and supported
It’s also worth noting that the MagSafe cable has USB-C on the other end, so it fits fairly nicely into a world where all your adaptors are USB-C. The old MagSafe cables were permanently attached to the adaptor.
>>> From spring 2026, the obligation will extend to laptops
So this would force Apple to replace MagSafe with USB-C? How is that not killing innovation?
Standardisation should be a goal, but I just feel this particular effort is too specific and brings very little value to consumers. Why don't we standardise payment protocols instead? Or biometric identity verification? Or ID cards even (that the UK is allergic to)? I just feel the spirit of these efforts can be applied so much more successfully elsewhere.