Updated on December 31 with more details on availability, adding exactly how this will affect parts of the UK and all major points in each EU territory.
Apple’s existing lineup has 3 iPhones with a Lightning connector: the iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Plus, and the third-generation iPhone SE. The company has removed the three products from sale in 29 countries and has added one that is part of the United Kingdom. Will other countries be affected? More details have emerged since it went off sale on December 27.
European Directive 2022/2380 is at the heart of all this, “as the EU moves towards a non-unusual USB-C-based charging solution”, as The Verge puts it. This site reviewed Apple’s online retail outlets in the Netherlands, France, Norway, and Germany. Many reports merely talk about “most EU countries”, which is not a complete enough verdict for my liking.
So I checked Apple’s online outlets in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus (which only has one site), Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. The 3 iPhones are not visible, much less available for purchase.
Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are slightly different. In those countries, the iPhone 14 and SE are still listed, but if you pay to buy them, you are redirected to a “page not found” message. I believe those sites will be updated to accommodate the others in due time.
This means that I can verify that the 27 EU countries, plus Switzerland, no longer offer an iPhone 14, 14 Plus or iPhone SE for sale. And then there’s the UK, where it’s only partially available, as shown below.
The EU directive came into force on Saturday, December 28, 2024. In a bid to reduce e-waste, the EU has required brands to ensure that devices such as Got Hereras, phones and tablets use the same port. charging (and the same cable): USB-C.
Apple first resisted the move, saying that such a requirement could simply stifle creativity. However, the replacement occurred and Apple moved its iPhones to USB-C starting with the iPhone 15. All iPad, AirPods, Magic Mouse, and Magic Keyboard connectors, for example, are now USB-C only as well.
As for the U.K.: Apple has now confirmed that you can no longer buy the iPhone SE or iPhone 14 in one part of the U.K. On the U.K. Apple website, if you are buying an iPhone SE, for instance, the payment page includes the following message: “In compliance with EU Common Charger regulations, we are unable to sell this device in Northern Ireland. Customers in England, Wales and Scotland may still place orders for this device.”
The segment can be discovered on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus checkout pages.
This new resolution means one thing above all for consumers: the most affordable iPhones are no longer available, so buying an iPhone in those countries is more expensive. And the iPhone SE was in a different price range than other iPhones. The iPhone 16 starts at $799, the 16 Plus starts at $899. This $100 charging difference extends up and down the range, with the iPhone 14 at the bottom of the scale, starting at $599. But the iPhone SE was much more affordable: $170 less than the iPhone 14, at $429. Now the cheapest iPhone is the iPhone 15, which costs $699.
Even if the prices are in euros or in the local currencies of the EU countries, nothing in diversity reaches the price of the SE.
This is only expected to last a few months, as the fourth-generation iPhone SE may be with us in March 2025, with the most recent reports recommending that it may not be as reasonable as the SE that just disappeared from shelves. .
The directive meant that iPhone diversity featured the 3 previously indexed models with Lightning at their core, which meant they had to get rid of them until December 28 to comply.
Apple iPhone SE in three colors.
This happened on Friday, December 27, when consumers visiting Apple’s Internet sites in the 27 EU countries discovered that only the iPhone 15, 15 Plus, iPhone 16, 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max were now available. sale.
So, are you too late to get one of these phones if you live in the EU? Not quite. Third-party resellers are allowed to sell remaining stocks—the iPhone 14 is still on sale on Amazon in Spain right now, for instance. Similarly, Amazon Germany has the 3rd-generation iPhone SE on sale still.
And the prohibition goes further. Switzerland is outside the EU, but aligns with the bloc in a number of ways, so the ban applies there as well. And the UK left the European Union in 2020, Northern Ireland has other industrial regulations in a position to ensure that there is no border between the Republic of Ireland and the UK dominates in the north. Therefore, as mentioned above, you can no longer buy the affected phones in Belfast.
By the way, there is no official Apple Store in the Republic, so there is a certain irony in this. The Irish at Apple no longer sell Lightning iPhones, not even in the refurbished section.
It’s possible that iPhone SE sales will drop and this new style is expected soon, but it’s still not an ideal situation.
What are the ramifications beyond Europe?Other countries will have followed the scenario with interest, although, in reality, the effects will be minimal. Even if the law were to pass quickly, it’s unlikely to go into effect until the iPhone 14 gets rid of everywhere, which is expected to happen. It will take place this autumn.
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