A charger to control them all: USB-C. Photo: Shutterstock
The Christmas shopping season 2024 will make European consumers buy Apple iPhones and other devices with USB-C charging ports, after the European Union (EU) agreed to force electronics companies to standardize the format of almost all devices sold in the EU.
The recently approved rules, which have been under discussion for almost a decade and were formally introduced last September, will amend the EU Radio Equipment Directive to require a single charging solution for devices that include mobile phones. tablets, electronic readers, headphones, digital cameras. , headphones and earphones, portable video game consoles and portable speakers.
Laptop manufacturers will also be required to adapt the USB-C standard within 40 months of the enactment of the legislation.
The new rules impose a standard for fast charging, to ensure that devices can be charged at the same speed no matter which charger is used.
Approved last week by the EU’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, the new rules are expected to save consumers up to $ 375 million (€ 250 million) a year, saving them from having to buy incompatible chargers often for every electronic device they have.
Many of these chargers remain unused, and consumers are estimated to dispose of 11,000 tons of e-waste annually.
“With every three chargers we put in the house, we don’t even take one out of the box,” said Parliament Speaker Alex Agius Saliba.
“It’s not about imposing just a common charger,” he said. “It’s a matter of giving our consumers information and giving them the option to buy a device with or without a charger … and not be penalized for it. If a device becomes obsolete, you may still be using the charger and you will not have to throw it away. “
To this end, the new rules also require devices to be clearly labeled on charging options and whether the package includes a charger.
Exceptions to the rule apply to devices that are too small to have a USB-C port, such as smart watches, health trackers, and other sports equipment.
By 2026, EU lawmakers also want to see a strategy to provide “minimal interoperability” for new wireless charging solutions, which can vary in power and often use proprietary standards that prevent them from charging any device.
A redesign for Apple
While many device manufacturers have already begun to use USB-C ports, the new rules have been closely watched for their impact on Apple, which has long argued that a single connector standard would stifle innovation.
More than a billion iPhones and iPads use the company’s 8-pin Lightning connector, which was introduced in 2012 as a slim alternative to the 30-pin connector it launched in 2003.
Lightning was designed as a “modern connector for the next decade,” said Apple’s senior vice president of global marketing Phil Schiller at the presentation of the new design, noting that its 80% size reduction made “a big difference in the world’s thinnest smartphone. ”
A decade later, the EU decision will force Apple to integrate USB-C ports, which, as a comparison showed, require more space than Lightning connectors.
Within the narrow confines of the microelectronics of the iPhone, accommodating slightly larger ports may be more difficult than it seems, although recent reports suggest that Apple is already testing new USB-C-equipped devices for launch in 2023 or 2024.
It remains to be seen whether the company will also preserve backward compatibility by launching a USB-C adapter into Lightning, as it did when it switched to Lightning connectors.
Either way, CCS Insight chief analyst Ben Wood said the EU’s decision “is a victory for common sense, with the EU really trying to do something more environmentally friendly. .. “. The benefits will outweigh the disadvantages. “
The EU decision is part of a broader “ecodesign” mandate that has also seen the union impose new standards on external power supplies, which came into force in 2020 and are expected to save 10 TWh of energy annually, reducing CO2 emissions by almost 4 million tons and saving users 3 billion dollars (2 billion euros).