| Cult of Mac

It’s official: 2025 iPhone must include USB-C in place of the Lightning port

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No more Lightning ports
Time is running out for the Lightning connector.
Image: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The European Parliament picked December 28, 2024 as date after which iPhone and all other handsets sold in the EU must have a USB-C port. That means the iPhone 17 in 2025 will definitely not include a Lightning port.

But unconfirmed reports say Apple will make the change earlier than that.

EU passes law forcing Apple to switch to USB-C by 2024

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iPhone X with USB-C port
R.I.P. Lightning ...
Photo: Ken Pillonel

The European Parliament voted in an overwhelming majority Tuesday to enforce USB-C as the standard charging port across a wide range of consumer electronics. The law will come into effect by the end of 2024.

With the legislation passed, Apple has a couple of years to complete the transition of its product lineup to USB-C. The company continues to use the Lightning port on iPhone and some accessories for charging purposes.

EU’s Digital Markets Act takes step toward forcing huge changes to iPhone

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The European Union takes another step toward rough regulations on tech giants like Apple.
The European Union takes another step toward tough regulations on tech giants like Apple.
Photo: Freestocks.org

The European Parliament passed the landmark Digital Markets Act on Tuesday. The legislation aims to outlaw many common practices of Big Tech companies, especially Apple, Google and Amazon.

For iPhone users, the DMA would force Apple to allow rival app stores and sideloaded applications. And these are only two of many significant changes in the act.

There are still further steps the the EU government must go through before the DMA goes into effect, but that’s expected to happen before the end of 2022.

EU mandate will bring USB-C to iPhone and iPad

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Robotics engineer Tom Pillonel modded his iPhone with USB-C and sold it for $86,000 on eBay.
The EU will require future iPhones to have a USB-C port.
Photo: Tom Pillonel

The Lightning port’s days are numbered. The EU government has settled on a plan that will require all new phones and tablets to have a USB-C port, including iPhone.

But is seems Apple saw the writing on the wall and is already getting ready to switch iPhone from Lightning to USB-C.

EU may soon force Apple to open iPhone NFC to other payment services

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Apple Pay heads south of the border, down Mexico way
iPhone users might soon be able to use tap-to-pay with non-Apple payment systems. In the EU, anyway.
Photo: Apple

The European Union reportedly plans to accuse Apple of violating the law by limiting access to the iPhone’s NFC capabilities to the company’s own payment system. The goal is to give rival systems like PayPal access to the iPhone’s convenient tap-to-pay function.

Apple claims the limitation is there to protect users’ financial information. The EU calls it anticompetitive.

EU plans to force iMessage to work with WhatsApp, other messaging apps

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EU will force iMessage to work with other services
iMessage may not be an Apple exclusive for much longer.
Photo: Cee Ayes/Unsplash

The European Union plans to break down the barriers between mobile messaging services. With its Digital Markets Act, it plans to force services like iMessage, WhatsApp, and smaller messaging platforms to play nicely together.

The move would be a major blow to Apple, which has long used iMessage — which it refuses to bring to Android — as a big selling point of iPhone.

Ireland’s data protection boss questions Apple over Siri privacy

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Siri Lights
How private are your conversations with Siri?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission is questioning Apple over privacy concerns raised by an ex-contractor who transcribed users’ Siri requests in an effort to improve the voice assistant’s functionality.

Former Apple contractor Thomas le Bonniec this week said Apple should be “urgently investigated” over Siri data collection. It seems that the EU’s data protection authorities are listening.

Apple Store’s temperature checks may violate German privacy rules

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Apple Store Hamburg line iPhone 6s
Apple Stores, like this one in Hamburg, Germany, are digitally checking the temperatures of customers as they enter.
Photo: Thomas Knoop (via Twitter)

As Apple reopens its retail stores throughout Germany, regulators are considering investigating whether temperature checks of customers to ensure the safety of visitors and employees is a violation of European Union privacy laws.

Apple TV+ cuts streaming quality in Europe to lower stress on internet

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Apple TV app Samsung
Apple appears to have heeded the E.U. request to lower quality of its Apple TV+ service to reduce the strain on the internet.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Following a request to streaming services to switch from high definition to standard in an effort to reduce the strain on the internet, indications were Friday that Apple has followed suit of other major services and slowed down its Apple TV+ streaming service.

Cult of Mac has confirmed through two Apple TV users – one in Great Britain and one in southern France – that the quality of content on Apple TV+ has been lowered. Subscribers described the differences as primarily fast-moving content that is slower to refresh, heavily compressed and more pixelated.