With MagSafe MacBook Air, Apple Says Screw You to the EU
The European Union wants smartphones to use USB-C ports for charging. In the new 2022 MacBook Air, however, Apple just moved away from USB-C and back to a proprietary connector, the MagSafe charger.
According to Reuters(Opens in a new window), the EU tomorrow is likely to demand that phones, tablets, and headphones all charge with USB-C. Apple is the major holdout against USB-C in phones and tablets with its proprietary Lightning port.
Reuters also says, though, that the proposal may apply to laptops, and if it does, many more manufacturers are on the hook. My Lenovo laptop, like many others, has a large, nonstandard charging brick with its own proprietary connector.
But ironically, Apple had previously gone full-USB-C on its MacBook Air. Its 2020 MacBook Air uses USB-C Thunderbolt ports for charging.
That said, as an owner of both a USB-C MacBook Air and a MagSafe 2020 MacBook Pro, MagSafe is the superior user experience. I leave my laptops lying around charging a lot, and the cables tend to get yanked. There's a potential for damage with a port like USB-C (or any other port that attaches deep into the PC) while MagSafe really can't get hurt.
The devil will be in the details here. While the new 2022 Air uses a MagSafe charger on one end, the other end of its cable will be a USB-C power adapter(Opens in a new window). If the EU is mandating power bricks, not the ports on the device, Apple is in the clear (and my Lenovo laptop is not).
Apple will offer three charging options for the MacBook Air, according to its spec sheet(Opens in a new window). Most models of the laptop will come with a 30W adapter, but other models will come with a 35W adapter, which includes an extra USB-C port to power your phone or tablet. There's
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