The EU just agreed to adopt a single mobile charging port for smartphones
In the early days of phones, companies were using proprietary connectors when it came to charging their devices. This made it highly inconvenient for some, and also created a lot of electronic waste when moving from one brand to another. Over time, micro USB was eventually (almost) universally adopted followed by USB-C, which is the unspoken standard today.
Over in the EU, it looks like the standard is now being legalized which means that moving forwards by 2024, all smartphones, laptops, and cameras will need to adopt the USB-C charging standard. According to EU industry chief Thierry Breton, this move isn’t just about convenience, but also about cost-savings as he estimates that it could save roughly $267 million for consumers.
Given that pretty much all Android phones these days use USB-C, there is no change required by Android OEMs, so if anything, this pretty much just affects Apple whose iPhones are still using the Lightning connector. Apple’s refusal to adopt USB-C for their iPhones is a bit weird.
The company does love its USB-C ports seeing as how all the company’s MacBooks have USB-C ports. Plus the iPad Pro also adopted USB-C years ago, so we’re not sure why the iPhone hasn’t. In any case, it seems that Apple will have no choice but to comply by 2024 if they’re hoping to see future iPhones over in the EU.
Source: Reuters