Will Apple Adopt the "Universal Phone Charger"?

[-Blue-]

if they want to sell in europe they will have to by law

[Rob_Quads]

All Apple will do is supply an adapter for charging or have the connector on the phone for charge only. That way the universal connector is still there for all ther various things that use it. They will never get rid of that.

[Yingie]

FYI Apple has already sided with the universal charger together with most mobile phone players in the market when recommendations first were issued. It's no question whatsoever that Apple will follow, be it by abandoning the dock connector or by providing an adapter.

This siding of Apple with the universal charger happened quite a while ago too.

[mgebara]

I think the size of the micro-usb connector is what would take it off Apple's list. Wikipedia says that the micro-usb connector is slightly thicker than 1.5mm; eyeballing my dock connector (I couldn't find reliable specifications online) I figure it to be around 1mm thick. When the new form factor for the nano came out I understood that the dock connector was pretty much what was limiting Apple from going any thinner. What would make Apple adopt a thicker standard?

With hundreds of millions of iPods and iPhones sold, Apple would need a VERY compelling reason to change their connection standard (ie. smaller form factor, new compelling technology).

[symondavis]

The iPhone charger is good enough, as it's just a USB socket with a USB cable plugged into it. I charge alsorts on mine like my camera's and other USB rechargable toys.
Don't see why Apple need to adhere to this.

[sungod661]

OK first off this is the a scam in the name of "green'. how would producing another zillion chargers to replace the already existing ones benefit the environment. 2ND HAVING HAD the micro usb on other phones it is a inferior charger to the dock. the dock has a sort of lock that keeps the charger in place and it and keps the little teeth in place allowing no wiggle room. As many who have had a usb universal charger can attest over time the connection gets worse and worse.


this is b.s

[Channan]

I don't see them adopting it. Can you imagine syncing with a MicroUSB? Apple would have to make iPhones with two charging ports, one for their own USB, and one for the Micro. Then, what's the point in that?

I hardly see how this would be "going green" unless of course to MAYBE reduce people's need to buy an ipod specific cable for every room of the house and their car. No matter what kind of cable they adopt, these products will come with said cable and so will anything else that uses that cable.

Great point! It will definitely cut back on SOME chargers (say right now you have two different types of chargers and one you needed breaks: now you're forced to go out and buy another, but with this standard, you could just use another charger lying around) but I can't imagine it being too much. Unless phones start shipping without a charger and you have to go out and buy them.

[CaptainChaos]

I think all batteries should be rechargeable too. Since we are on the green train an all.

[nighthawk283]

I had bunch of phones that used that kind of USB and they always stop working on me, because the metal that touch the charger charge would get wore out, and i had to get a completely new phone , or i had to move the phone around for it to work

[qgshadow]

Microsoft doesn't make any phones so I'm not sure why they are mentioned so many times in this article...

they make mp3 players, as well as a new phone comming.

Yeah.. I want to be different just for the sake of it.

It will NEVER happen, it would make all iPod and iPhone accessories that use the Dock connector obsolete because if I'm not mistaken.. it would have to change for this.

ever heard of parallel use?, they will always keep their bottom connector but can still put a micro usb connector somewhere on the product.

[kaaroFC]

I think its a good measure, but hard to be possible because of all the money and third party hardware involved...would be great to see it happening..

[cheekydevil1234]

The last two lines of the story, unfortunately, are the only words that matter to companies in general. If they can't make money off of it, and they aren't forced to do it through regulations, they feel no personal responsibility to do it.

It sucks and is the main cause of EVERY environmental problem we have.

The fact is they will do something about it, it is called social responsibility and environmental impact. Apple is already spending so much money and advertisement on their "going green" that this simple solution would just send them backward. I think what the story is more making a point about is the fact that there are business out their that do produce these charges, by moving to just one is a potential to place a lot of people out of work and with the current GFC it casts another small shadow. I say go for the one charger, i personally say lets look at the latest thing that Intel and apple have been working on with the light cable because we need to make sure that the cable that is implemented is one that stands the test of time

[aresinferno]

they will always keep their bottom connector but can still put a micro usb connector somewhere on the product.

Obviously you don't have a clue about apple. On their macs - why include multiple display ports when you can pick one?
And as for on the iPhone, there simply isn't any room. We have a mic and speaker on the bottom, along with the dock. On the top we have power, sim card and audio jack. Where will they put it? The side? This is apple, they would not ruin the aesthetics just for the sake of another port. Not to mention no space inside the actual device.

The only 3 ways I can see this being done are:

1. No way. Never. Dock connector or bust.

2. Adapter included or sold separately (most likely the latter).

3. An integrated Dock-Connector-Micro-USB port. They could potentially make the dock connector slightly smaller and put a micro-USB port to the very left or right. Your standard dock connector would plug into the whole thing, using the dock connector part for everything else the phone does while utilising the micro-USB section for power and possibly data transfer. Then other micro-USB chargers could easily plug in to the micro-USB port.
The one worry I have is which is better / superior at data transfer or charging. Generic micro-USB chargers could charge the iPhone slow compared to apple's dock connector.

I tend to think that apple will choose option number 1, or 2 as a last resort.

[ecd5000]

but how will apple make money off this when everyone else will have the same cable., dont see this happening if it does they have some adapter piece you have to buy for their products.