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"By contrast, Apple has been an industry leader in reducing its use of plastic. It uses paper for packaging, and metal rather than plastic for its computer line
by 2four2 2y ago
"By contrast, Apple has been an industry leader in reducing its use of plastic. It uses paper for packaging, and metal rather than plastic for its computer line."
Okay
- stevenpetryk 2y agoApple’s like “oops, sorry we made 4 billion lightning cables that don’t work with new phones now!”
- asalahli 2y agoThanks to an EU regulation mandating type-c connectors
- talldayo 2y agoTo be honest, Lightning was always dead in the cradle because of it's licensing fee. Apple tried to take the high road for so long, but vendors actively avoided Lightning unless they could buy bootleg, unlicensed connectors. Apple basically took a serial standard hostage, and then insisted that it was okay because they did it before USB-C was finalized. There's no way Apple didn't know from the offset that they were diverging from the standard and creating e-waste, they helped design USB-C. The creation of Lightning was an exploitation of 30-pin's depreciation.
- riscy 2y agoThe plethora of crappy, bootleg cables with USB-C connectors that are single purpose (power only, low-speed data only, etc) has created plenty of e-waste, in addition to confusion. I don’t see how this is an improvement over the licensing model, where you know every cable works the same.
- MBCook 2y agoThe number of “USB-C” things I have that aren’t is infuriating. Won’t use a real charger or PD, only works with an A to C cable, only works when plugged in “right side up”, etc. At least with Lightning and Micro-B you knew the score. The good USB-C stuff is great. The rest is worse than B ever was.
- dzikimarian 2y agoWhat are they exactly? I haven't see such issue in years.
- MBCook 2y agoThey’re not “real” computer devices but other things with charge ports. One is an air duster, for example. I also have some credit card payment hardware that is clearly USB-B and they just swapped the port. The computer world seems fine. It’s everyone else.
- talldayo 2y agoThe licensed model failed. I own multiple gas-station Lighting cables with no data, only (5w) power. Ultimately everyone converges on the "fuck it, what's the cheapest thing on Amazon" mindset and licensing doesn't help.
- Dylan16807 2y agoBut that's what all lightning cables are. Low power limit, low speed data only.
- thedrbrian 2y agoI can put 12w through a lighting cable. That’s fine for most if not all of their iPhones and iPads. Hell it’d be ok for my MacBook
- dzikimarian 2y ago> Hell it’d be ok for my MacBook If you keep it turned off for entire day to charge then sure.
- sgerenser 2y agoYou can put 12W through all USB-C cables as well (AFAIK). The crappy ones might be limited to something between 12-50W, while decent ones allow for 100W or more.
- archagon 2y agoAccording to DannyBee, it was Google, not Apple, that helped design the USB-C connector: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30033799 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30033799
- mcphage 2y agoI’m impressed how fast people on HN switched from “Apple is terrible for not dropping lightning cables for USB-C!” to “Apple is terrible for dropping lightning cables for USB-C!” Talk about a zero-downtime migration!
- readthenotes1 2y agoApple is terrible for using lightning cables in the first place.
- yoz-y 2y agoNot really. Lightning was better than micro USB-B connector, which was Lightning’s contemporary.
- acomjean 2y agoIt’s wasteful because it contains a chip to verify the cable’s fee was payed to Apple. They’re small but there are a lot of them and they are uneccessary and annoying when they fail and you can’t charge your device.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- r00fus 2y agoLightning was the first decent phone connector. USB-C learned good lessons from it.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- wao0uuno 2y agoUSB-C is still mechanically inferior. Lightning feels better to use and lasts longer. It always clicks, it’s always snug, it lasts forever. I wish Apple wasn’t so greedy and made it an open standard. Maybe now we would have better connectors on all of our devices.
- throwaway48476 2y agoFirewire cables are obsolete now too. Their right to repair and cloud locking of devices is a way more egregious waste issue.
- justinator 2y agoLightning to USB-C adapters are a product that exists, https://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Adapter-MacBook-Samsung-Monitorand/dp/B0CPSK8699/ https://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Adapter-MacBook-Samsung-Mon... I have a rat's nest of cables for almost any situation (as any accessory comes with a cable), but my daily drivers are just USB-C cables with adapters at the end.
- mvanbaak 2y agoNot their fault. They are forced by EU law
- smsm42 2y agoI was surprised by this line which came out of nowhere until I went back and re-read which site it was on.
- lxgr 2y agoThat’s only fair, pretty much every company would require insiders only speak positively about the company in public, if at all :)
- ars 2y agoMetal rather than plastic is not a good thing, metal uses far more resources.
- r00fus 2y agoWe’ll have agree to disagree. Aluminum uses a lot of energy to refine and cast, yes but is more durable and recyclable.
- patmorgan23 2y agoAnd it doesn't breakdown into billions of micro particles that stay in the environment. (Though lots of micro plastics come from apparel rather than consumer electronics)
- Gigachad 2y agoAlso means your laptop doesn’t snap at the hinges like most plastic ones do.
- ars 2y agoIf you do a full lifecycle analysis on the part plastic usually wins. Even if you recycle the metal, you can burn the plastic (which is the environmentally best way to handle it) and get back virtually all the energy embodied in it. Using a metal part, when plastic will do, just costs extra energy. Obviously some things need to be metal for strength, I'm talking about when that's not necessary.
- MrVandemar 2y ago“which is the environmentally best way to handle it” Citation sorely needed.
- ars 2y agoRead the rest of this thread. Burning plastic for energy reduces the need for oil from the ground. It's by far the best way to handle plastic. It removes waste, it's emits less CO2 than pull extra oil from the ground, and it's cheap. You don't get a triple win like this very often when it comes to the environment.
- Unai 2y agoWere they not recently caught destroying huge numbers of devices when they sued the company hired to destroying said devices for reselling them instead? I remember reading about that some time ago. I don't know how that wasn't a much bigger PR issue, but at least I would expect an apple-focused publication to not call them "industry leaders" in such context after that.
- insaneirish 2y agoCitation needed?
- benoau 2y agoAbout 20% of devices that were to be recycled were being sold - https://www.theverge.com/apple/2020/10/4/21499422/apple-sues-recycling-company-reselling-ipods-ipads-watches https://www.theverge.com/apple/2020/10/4/21499422/apple-sues...
- h4ck_th3_pl4n3t 2y agoIt was the Apple vs GEEP court case, where Apple literally used working devices in those containers to track where they were, even though they were "off" and not recycleable ;) Apple does not allow recyclers to refurbish their devices, even when they are still fully functioning, by its written contract with the recycling companies. After it got public and traction, Apple seemed to have just dropped the lawsuit, which was suing for 30M in damages (for 100.000 devices that were being tracked while being shipped and refurbished). [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/10/07/apple-geep-iphone-recycle-shred/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/10/07/apple-g... [2] https://thelogic.co/news/exclusive/apple-sues-ontario-electronics-recycling-firm-claiming-it-stole-nearly-100000-products-for-resale/ https://thelogic.co/news/exclusive/apple-sues-ontario-electr...
- yellow_postit 2y agoAt least this blatant Apple pandering article is better green washing than the “Mother Earth” marketing stunt.
- rty32 2y agoThis sentence looks very weird and out of place to me as well. I mean, Apple used metal on MacBooks long before people jumped on the environment bandwagon. And Lenovo and HP use plastic on $200 Chromebooks not because they hate environment, but because plastic is cheap.
- baliex 2y agoIsn't that the point though? Plastic's only cheaper when you're thinking short term and have externalised any non-material costs – which is exactly how capitalism has set us up to think.
- dgoldstein0 2y agoIn a few special cases plastic is almost certainly the best choice - single use medical supplies come to mind: while "single use" itself is bad, avoiding infection risk is likely worth it in hospital settings for items that a reusable version would be hard to sterilize. Of course the vast majority of plastic usage doesn't fall into this bucket but is more a matter of plastic having convenient properties while also being very cheap.
- hollerith 2y ago>Apple used metal on MacBooks long before people jumped on the environment bandwagon. Huh? My country (the US) jumped on the environment bandwagon in the 1970s.
- ajdude 2y agoThis is unrelated but I've been noticing recently a great deal of comments both on HN and Reddit starting with "Huh?" Is this a developing slang or have I just been under a rock and only noticed it now?
- dgoldstein0 2y agoUnder a rock. That's been a common interjection for decades in casual conversation, at least in the US. I can't say for certain about it's commonality online in written form though.
- jnaina 2y agoI was wondering when the HN obligatory Apple bashing will start.
- NFVLCP 2y agoAgreed. Apple's $3T+ is built on a colossal mountain of e-waste fueled by consumerism. Like bottled water companies saying their plastic caps are 30% smaller.