Apple has switched from its Lightning connector to USB-C — we explain which is better and why they did it


After many years of designing and selling a variety of different cables to power and charge its devices, Apple has slowly switched to USB-C chargers for all of its products.

The last device to swap is the iPhone, and it happened against Apple’s will. In October last year, the European Commission requested all phones and laptop producers switch to the USB-C connector (which had earlier been agreed on as a common standard).

Apple could have chosen to ignore the request and stop selling in the EU, or to produce versions with USB-C for the European single market only. Instead, it chose to comply and follow the EU rules everywhere. The common charger for all devices is thus becoming a reality, at least until the world moves completely to wireless charging.

A better standard

The Lightning charger was introduced by Apple in 2012 and first featured on the iPhone 5. It was the successor to the 30-pin dock connector introduced in 2003 for the first iPods and iPhones. Arguably, the key visible innovation of the Lightning cable was reversible ends.

This enabled the user to insert the charger into the dock without having to wonder whether it was oriented in the right way. It might seem trivial now, but this was not the case with any other charger. If you are using the standard USB port on your laptop now, you are likely to spend a lot of time plugging the cable in and taking it out in order to find the right orientation. You’re probably also complaining about how inconvenient it is. At least, that’s what I do.

The USB-C connector came out about two years after the Lightning. There was nothing particularly novel or remarkable about it compared to Apple’s cable. However, one notable feature was that it borrowed the Lightning connector’s reversibility.

USB-C is just the name of the connector, not the entire cable. The cable and connector are part of a bigger technical specification called USB-4. USB-4 outperforms Lightning in every technical dimension conceivable. It can transfer data much more quickly: up to 40Gbps (gigabits per second) for USB-4 versus 480Mbps (megabits per second) for Lightning. It also charges devices more swiftly, to the point that Apple started selling Lightning to USB-C adaptors.

The main difference between the two, however, is that UBS-C is not proprietary. It was developed by a consortium called the USB implementer forum. This consortium is composed of companies such as Intel and Microsoft – and also Apple.

There are several possible reasons why Apple held on to the Lightning connector as long as it did. Vytautas Kielaitis / Shutterstock

All of the USB standards can be used by any business. Apple, on the other hand, does not allow anyone else to use its proprietary accessories, unless they agree on a license. This means that USB-C is compatible with many more devices, including all recent Apple products, but not previously with the iPhone.

When it pays to be different

So, what’s so special about the Lightning connection that made Apple stick with it for so long, despite repeated promises to join its competitors on a common standard? Why would Apple sabotage one of its own phones by keeping a substandard charging connection?

One possibility is that consumers are inattentive when they buy a phone, and do not directly factor in the cost of accessories such as chargers. If this is true, Apple would have needed these add-ons to remain proprietary and make sure no competitor could start offering them for a lower price. If so, forcing Apple to offer the better standard benefits all consumers.

The alternative explanation is that some consumers actually value the Lightning connection more. After all, the look is different, and Apple fans argue that it may be harder-wearing than other standards. It is also a signal of status and exclusivity.

We seem to have reached a stage in the market for smartphones where people who only care about everyday usage replace their device much less often. This is probably because technology is not evolving at the same pace it did in the past. Yet, it’s also the case that demand for high end phones continues to increase.

This could be because they cater to a subset of consumers who either greatly value a marginally higher quality of camera or slightly bigger storage. But mostly, expensive phones are a way to signal social status.

People buy the latest phone not only because they want to own it, but also to be seen as owning one. This is certainly a factor that has helped Apple thrive because the company offers products that are visibly different from the cheaper alternative. And another sign of status for Apple users is having different accessories, including the proprietary chargers.

Apple has not always been so keen to reject common standards. Not only is it one of the participants in the USB consortium, but it is also the company that helped USB become the global standard by offering it on its first generation of iMacs.

At the time, however, Apple was the underdog in the market for personal computers, facing off against the tech giant Microsoft. And a big reason why many people did not buy Apple computers at the time was their fear they would not be compatible with Microsoft products.

At one point, Apple even went as far as developing tools to help users run Windows on their devices. At the time, it made sense to try to make your products as compatible as possible with those of the market leader.

In today’s smartphone market, Apple is a leader, and may gain from not being compatible with other standards and products. The big question, however, is whether consumers benefit. If exclusivity is a way to block competition, then they probably don’t. If consumers value exclusivity, or if it encourages Apple to innovate, then perhaps forced standardisation is not such a great idea.The Conversation

Renaud Foucart, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Nations must address barriers against access to affordable medicines, new technologies: India at UN


DEC 08, 2020 UNITED NATIONS: India has underlined the need for the global community to chart out long-term strategies and roadmaps to deal with future pandemics and their impacts, emphasising that barriers to equitable access to affordable medicines and new technologies must be addressed. Speaking at the UN General Assembly session on ''Global Health and Foreign Policy'', Counsellor in India's Permanent Mission to the UN Pratik Mathur said on Monday the international community needed to capitalise on existing programmes such as the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACTA), and COVAX facility to ensure affordable and equitable global access to diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, while strengthening health systems. "We need to come up with long term strategies and roadmaps to put in place a system to deal with the future pandemics," he said. "The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted systemic weaknesses in health systems and vulnerabilities in the capacity to prevent and respond to pandemic threats. We need to address the major weaknesses and gaps to strengthen global coordination to ensure that the world is better prepared to curb the impacts of future health-related crisis," he said. Mathur stressed that nations must address all barriers against access to medicines and new technologies, including through use of flexibilities provided in WTO TRIPS Agreement and the Doha Declaration. There is also a need to strengthen capacity of community health workers, who play a crucial role in covering the last mile in delivery of services, he said. COVAX is one of three pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, which was launched in April by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Commission and France in response to the pandemic. COVAX is the sole global effort to ensure that people across the world get access to COVID-19 vaccines once they are available, regardless of their wealth and circumstances. The 193-member General Assembly decided by consensus to proclaim December 27 as the ''International Day of Epidemic Preparedness'' - a day to highlight the importance of the prevention of, preparedness for and partnerships against epidemics such as COVID-19. President of the General Assembly Volkan Bozkir said the COVID-19 pandemic had cost around one and a half million lives and shown the dire socio-economic consequences of a pandemic. "This is a wake-up call, for greater political commitment and action, multilateral cooperation, and health care solidarity, which are essential, to support global economic recovery and to build back better," he said. So far, more than 67 million people across the world have been infected and over 1.5 million people have died from the coronavirus, he said. India welcomed the resolutions on International Day of Epidemic Preparedness and United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021-2030 tabled in the General Assembly. Mathur told the General Assembly that India had extended medical and other assistance to more than 150 countries to fight against the COVID-19. He said the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, managed by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, was working rapidly to support projects responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. "India has taken proactive measures from the early stage of the virus spread which ensured that we stayed ahead of the curve," he said. Emphasising that health does not alone mean freedom from diseases but rather encompasses all-inclusive wellness, Mathur outlined the four main pillars of India's holistic approach towards healthcare. The first pillar is Preventive Healthcare that lays special emphasis on Yoga, Ayurveda and fitness to control lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, blood pressure, hypertension and depression. Affordable Healthcare makes up the second pillar of India's holistic approach towards healthcare, he said. In this context, India launched the National Health Protection Scheme two years ago aimed at expanding access to primary healthcare service through Health and Wellness Centers and providing insurance coverage for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to poor and vulnerable families. Currently more than 150,000 Health and Wellness Centers are operational and a total of 126 million health cards have been issued and 14 million people have availed treatments under the scheme. The third pillar is improvements on the supply side and the government has taken several major steps for quality medical education, and for medical infrastructure development, he said. The last pillar is mission mode intervention under which India started the National Nutrition Policy to improve the nutritional status of the people, especially disadvantaged groups, including mothers, adolescent girls and children. India also plans to achieve the target of ending Tuberculosis by 2025, five years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goals deadline of 2030. In order to reach this ambitious goal, India has started implementing the National Strategic Plan and has substantially increased fund allocation for TB control, he said. "The motto of the Government of India, ''Together, for everyone's growth, with everyone's trust'' resonates with the core SDG principle of leaving no one behind," Mathur said. Copyright © Jammu Links News, Source: Jammu Links News
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OnePlus Nord N100 at Tk 19k only


Buying an OnePlus phone means spending a lot of money. However, the company is coming out of the idea. The company is offering OnePlus Nord N100 at Tk 19,500 (EUR 199) for the single 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant.

The new version of OnePlus Nord has 4G connectivity. It has a 6.52 inch HD plus LCD display. There will be 460 Snapdragon processors. The primary camera of this phone with triple rear camera is 13 megapixels. The other two cameras will have a 2 megapixel macro sensor and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.

In terms of specifications, the OnePlus Nord N100 is said to have triple rear cameras as well as a 5,000mAh battery. The smartphone is also likely to run on the latest Android 11 out-of-the-box. The OnePlus Nord N100 and OnePlus Nord N10 5G both are also likely to come with a 3.5mm headphone jack. OnePlus brought the mid-range phone Nord a few months ago. The response was good. Many people have not missed the opportunity to use One Plus at relatively cheap prices. That's why OnePlus is bringing mid-wrench phones again. Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com
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