EU lawmakers have reached an agreement on legislation that will require all future smartphones sold in the EU, including Apple’s iPhone, to be equipped with the universal USB-C port for cable charging in the fall of 2024. The rule will also apply to other electronic devices, such as tablets, digital cameras, headphones, handheld video game consoles, and electronic players.
The legislation has been under consideration for years, but an agreement has been reached this morning on its scope and details following negotiations between different EU bodies.
The European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection announced the news in a tweet ahead of a press conference to be held today at 12:30 pm CEST (6:30 AM ET). The legislation is yet to be approved by the EU Parliament and Council by the end of the year, but it seems more of a formality than anything else. In a press release, the European Parliament stated that the law will be in force “in the autumn of 2024”.
“Today we have made the common charger a reality in Europe!” European Parliament Speaker Alex Agius Saliba said in a statement. “European consumers have long been frustrated with the various chargers built into each new device. They will now be able to use a single charger for all of their portable electronics.” The legislation will also include provisions designed to address wireless chargers, as well as the harmonization of fast charging standards.
We have reached an agreement on the common charger!
✔️Mobile Phones, Tablets, E-readers, Digital Cameras & More
Press conference at 12.30 CEST ➡️ pic.twitter.com/29JmeL0nxe
– IMCO Committee Press (@EP_SingleMarket) June 7, 2022
The rules are an attempt to reduce e-waste in the EU by making chargers for electronic devices interoperable. In the future, lawmakers hope that phones will not have to come with a charger in the box because buyers will already have the right cable and wall charger at home. The EU estimates that the rules could save consumers € 250 million a year in “unnecessary charger purchases” and reduce some 11,000 tonnes of e-waste a year.
The deal would have the biggest impact on Apple, which is the only major smartphone maker that still uses a proprietary port instead of USB-C. In 2021, Apple sold 241 million iPhones worldwide, of which about 56 million were sold in Europe. The EU press release specifically states that the rules apply to devices “that are recharged via a wired cable”, meaning that a device that only charges wirelessly should not be equipped with a USB port. -C.
The European Commission announced current plans for legislation last September, but the bloc’s efforts to force manufacturers to use a common load standard go back more than a decade. In later years, Android manufacturers have converged on micro USB and then USB-C as the preferred common charging standard, while Apple has gone from offering phones with its proprietary 30-pin connector to Lightning.
Apple has rejected attempts by the EU to force it to use USB-C on its phones. “We are concerned that strict regulation requiring only one type of connector will stifle innovation rather than encourage it, which will hurt consumers in Europe and around the world,” a spokesman told Reuters last year. It is also argued that forcing a switch to USB-C would create electronic waste instead of reducing it, because it would make its existing Lightning accessory ecosystem redundant.
However, there have been reports from Apple that the company may be preparing to change their iPhones to charge via USB-C. Bloomberg reported last month that the company was testing iPhones with USB-C internally, and Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said it could make the change as soon as next year. Away from its phones, Apple has been a big supporter of the USB-C standard and already uses it in its high-end laptops and iPads.