Apple pulls remaining Lightning-based devices from European stores

The title makes it sound like Apple did this of their own accord. In reality, this was the deadline for no longer selling these devices inside the EU.

And the asshats sold them up to the deadline day, instead of saying stopping sales 5 years ago. Penalizingly anal company.

See, this is how you do it. Pass laws with teeth in big markets, as the EU has done for years now. The almighty dollar is what Apple and the rest care about it, if you want them to change you have to threaten that. It's their only language

I’m still of the opinion that Apple benefitted from this legislation, and that they know it. They never fought this decision particularly hard — and ultimately, it’s only going to help Apple move forward.

I’m more than old enough to remember the last time Apple tried changing connectors from the 30-pin connector to the Lightning connector. People (and the press) were apoplectic that Apple changed the connector. Everything from cables to external speakers to alarm clocks and other accessories became useless as soon as you upgraded your iPod/iPhone — the 30-pin connector had been the standard connector since the original iPod, and millions of devices used it. Apple took a ton of flak for changing it — even though Lightning was a pretty significant improvement.

That’s not happening this time, as Apple (and everyone else) can point to and blame the EU instead. If Apple had made this change on their own, they would likely have been pilloried in the press (again) for making so many devices and cables obsolete nearly overnight — but at least this way they can point at the EU and say “they’re the ones making us do this” and escape criticism.
- If Apple had made this change on their own, they would likely have been pilloried in the press
  
  Changing from one proprietary connector to another pissed a lot of people off.
  Changing to a standard USB-C connector would piss off almost no one.
- Apple doesn't want this. Watch how long it takes for Apple devices anywhere else to change to usb-c... Won't be overnight.
- I feel like most accessories these days either use Bluetooth, or (for e.g. cars) have a phone-agnostic USB port so they can work with Android too. Plus cables aren’t that hard to replace. I feel like the days of the iPod speaker dock and the iDog with a proprietary cable stub are long gone.

Good riddance, historically the shittiest cables in existence in terms of build quality and design, and they polluted USB-C with that design, too...

What, you want the thing to be reinforced with a flexible brace near the plug so that the cable won't fray? Fuck you. Oh, your cable frayed near the plug? Fuck you. Buy more cables, it's just e-waste. Not like the environment's going down the toilet or anything.

Seems like a bit of an overreaction. The complaint you’re making is about the cable not the connector. The cable can still fray near the tip with a USB-C given enough wear and tear.

The lightning connector was great for its time, moving Apple devices off the giant serial connectors present on the iPod and early iPhone. In comparison, the lightning connector was small, reversible, and durable. It’s still even smaller than USB-C today.
- I don't think making the end of a cable smaller is an important thing any more. We're not dealing with SCART or serial cables any more. USB C is definitely small enough. Micro and mini were small enough too.
  
  The complaint about the cables seems fine when the company the post is about profited from those cables. Design flaws boosted their sales.
  
  As for the regular USB cables eventually fraying, sure, all things have wear and tear, but some things are designed to fail faster for profits.
- Even the old USB-micro is smaller than USB-C.
- I'm honestly not going to argue against their efficacy as transfer mediums, because I didn't have much contact with the Apple ecosystem other than for work.
  
  But that is another mark against them in my book. What use is a good cable when it's only usable with a single type of device? They could have the highest transfer rates ever and still wouldn't serve, like, half of the people who use phones and computers. That's to say nothing of the myriad other peripherals out there (even vapes use USB-C for charging).
  
  That plus the really poor design/build quality of the cable itself are what make them bad cables.
Now you get shitty USB c cables.
- They really don't make stuff like they used to, pretty much nobody. And credit where it's due, Apple have been leading the planned obsolescence movement from the start (their iPhone 3 cables were just as bad as the current ones).
  
  On the other end of the spectrum, I own a single no-name MicroUSB cable. I've owned it for, I think, a decade at this point. Maybe even longer than that. It was the cheapest cable I could find over 2m in length, cost me about two bucks back then. I've used it for phones, MP3 players, external hard drives, mice - you name it, it's been plugged in it. It still performs just as well as it did when I bought it, it hasn't lost its shape, and believe me when I say it received zero preferential treatment.
  
  I honestly lost count of how many USB-C cables have failed me so far. Seriously...

Happy about this overal! Just hope I will still be able to buy replacement cables once my current ones die, as I do not plan to replace my iphone SE or gen1 airpods until there is any life in them left. If not, I guess tape will have to do the trick.

From here on out, all Apple devices will be Steam-based

finally a good OS on them

Next will be usb copyright chip. Mark my words.

That's a good idea, otherwise people might commit copyright infringement.

You know having an iPhone with usb- c has been a lot better for me

Happy about this overal! Just hope I will still be able to buy replacement cables once my current ones die, as I do not plan to replace my iphone SE or gen1 airpods until there is any life in them left. If not, I guess tape will have tp do the trick.

I wonder what happens to all those devices that are brand new, but can't be sold any longer due to having the lightning port. My guess is that these devices will be shreddered and land up in a landfill - better for the environment than having to use a different cable (/s).

This EU Directive only applies to devices sold as brand new. Frome here on devices sold as new have to be equipped with a USB C charging port.

You still can buy a refurbished device equipped with a lightning charging port from a second hand market seller.

Nothing changes for most people. If you own a device that still has a lightning port, you probaly also have a lightning cable for it. The three most common types (USB C / Lightnin / Micro USB) will still be around for a couple of years.

From the enviromental point of view it would be best to keep any device until it is not usable any longer.

I'd rather would like to see that Apple is being forced into revealing the software code for end-of-life devices than having to switch to a new charging port. That would have a more severe impact, as devices often still work well hardware-wise, but are outdated software-wise. Even Apples glued-in batteries can be changed (albeit it is very complicated), in order to prolong a devices lifespan. If outdated Apple devices could be revived with a FOSS software solution to be still compatible for a longer time, it would be way better for the environment - given, protecting the environment was the goal all along.

I wonder what happens to all those devices that are brand new, but can't be sold any longer due to having the lightning port.

The law was passed years ago and only came into effect now exactly so that Apple could sell the old stock. If they kept making new ones until the deadline, its not the laws fault. Also, they can be sold outside the EU.
I think they just ship the phones to places where they can still be sold like the UK.
- They've also known about this deadline for years and were always allowed to switch to USB-C at literally any time before then (like they did years ago with the iPad Pro and Macbook).
  
  If any e-waste occurred, it is squarely because of Apple's utter pettiness.
- I doubt they still have that many lightning iPhones. This is mostly about lightning accessories.
- I really hope so.
I doubt even Apple is stupid enough to end up with a significant quantity of un-sellable stock just to 'make a point'. Or that major vendors wound not have an agreement to rtv merchandise they can't sell after a certain date. Apple will either use them for parts or reflash them if possible to meet different jurisdictions' regulations and sell them there.

In regards to existing devices continuing to be used being better for the environment, the law allows that (which), it allows lighting cables (or micro-usb) to be continue to be sold so you can keep charging your working device. You won't however have to buy new cables and chargers for a new device if you already have a usb-c cable (and compatible charger), nor will it have to be bundled with every new device.

The software code issue is out of scope of this law. There are initiatives that do somewhat help with planned obsolescence such as requiring manufacturers to allow app installation from alternative sources. Of course they could go further, such as allowing to boot an alternative OS, or preventing malicious compliance better. But that cannot be criticism of this directive.
- It all comes down to numbers. What's cheaper: recycling brand new phones and accessories for materials, harvesting parts, selling as refurbished, or shipping them to another country (if possible, because they might be targeted to certain markets). Whatever option is the most profitable, is what they'll chose. Sometimes the landfill is the cheapest option.
You are not making bad points in your comment, but your first paragraph threw everyone off. As it should.

I get where you are going to let Apple reveal software code for end-of-life devices, but I can't see why it is related to the USB-C law. The law is not about Apple, but all devices. That's why it's good for e-waste.

And it's true - no current owner of an iPhone with lightning will feel this. It's harmless for consumers. But as soon as they get the USB-C port, they'll know what they missed not having to bring their charger freaking everywhere.
- Don't get me wrong - I'm all in favor of the EU Directive that states that all such devices must have the same charging port from now on. I think that this should have been introduced way earlier.
  
  I also realize that this law doesn't apply to Apple exclusively, but you don't find the Lightning port on any other non-Apple devices. If the Lightning port didn't exist at all, Apple devices probably would have been equipped with USB C ports instead.
  
  But one thing that affects all kind of devices is that they will be outdated at least software-wise mostly deliberately, no matter what charging port they are euqipped with. This even happens with Android-based phones, as there is a wide range of phones that can't be fixed with alternative software (ie. Graphene, LinageOS and similar).
  
  In my opinon it should be law that manufacturors should allow for end-of-service-devices to be opened up and upgraded with an alternative OS/ software, to extend liftime and to avoid being discarded. This affects mobile phones as well as smart lightbulbs, headphones, or vacuum robots and many more. This indeed has nothing to do with the EU Directive for charging ports, but it could have been another step towards keeping devices longer in the life cycle and thus avoiding landfill.
  
  Too many devices are being bricked by manufacturers deliberatly, and there are barely any ways to repair such devices, because manufacturers do not let it happen.