European Union Pushes For USB-C to Be New Portable Charging Standard

[silversurfer]

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https://www.tomshardware.com/news/european-union-enforcing-usb-type-c

The European Commission has announced new plans for legislation today that will require all mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets, cameras, headphones, portable speakers and handheld video game consoles, to conform to the USB Type-C standard for charging.

This goal is to reduce e-waste from a large number of differing chargers, and may also have the added benefit of ending those times when you can't find the right charger for your phone at a friend's house. The transition period will be 24 months once the European Parliament passes the new regulation.

Fortunately, the move to Type-C has already become mainstream with most smartphones incorporate Type-C for charging already. The same can be said of tablets, USB headphones, and speakers as well. So once the legislation is set in motion, all major device manufacturers should be ready for it.

European Union Pushes For USB-C to Be New Portable Charging Standard

Say goodbye to incompatible and obsolete chargers!

www.tomshardware.com

 

[CyberTech]

The European Commission shook the iPhone world to its roots this week, announcing a new policy that would require all smartphones to adopt USB-C ports for physical charging in an effort to reduce e-waste.

Apple, of course, doesn’t offer a USB-C iPhone, having argued to the European Commission in the past that “Legislation would have a direct negative impact by disrupting the hundreds of millions of active devices and accessories used by our European customers and even more Apple customers worldwide, creating an unprecedented volume of electronic waste and greatly inconveniencing users.”

Switching to USB-C, Apple says, would actually be more wasteful than sticking with Lightning, since customers would need new cables and adapters — despite the fact that Apple already offers USB-C ports on its iPads and its MacBooks and has managed to switch over those popular products without major issues or customer revolts.

Notably absent from Apple’s argument, though, is the fact that cutting out a Lightning port on an iPhone wouldn’t just create more e-waste (if you buy Apple’s logic) or inconvenience its customers. It also means that Apple would lose out on the revenue it makes from every Lightning cable and accessory that works with the iPhone, Apple-made or not — along with the control it has over what kinds of hardware does (or doesn’t) get to exist for the iPhone and which companies get to make them.

Full article

The Lightning port isn’t about convenience; it’s about control

Apple’s walled garden extends to hardware, too.

www.theverge.com