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EU rules on Universal Charger for all Phones Impact on Tech Industry? – Free PDF Download

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Published On October 4th, 2021 Leave a comment

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One Europe, One Charger

The European Commission (EC) Thursday proposed a new rule that will force all manufacturers of mobile phones and other electronics to adopt a single universal charging solution.

An 18-page directive clearly stated that a common charger for all brands “would benefit consumers and reduce electronic waste”.

But if there is one brand that will be impacted the most by the move, it would be Apple which will be forced to redesign its iPhones from ground up to comply with the rules.

For years, the European Parliament has been pushing for a common charger for mobile phones. But this week the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, announced a new plan to standardise charging ports for consumer electronics devices like smartphones and tablets being sold within the 27-nation bloc.
The new proposal appears to be more forceful and, once adopted, will make it mandatory to use USB-C as the common standard for almost all phones and other small mobile electronic devices. The legislative proposal will be first debated by the European Parliament to become a law. The parliament has already voted in favour of new rules on a common charger in 2020.
Device manufacturers would have only 24 months to comply with the rules and make changes in their products accordingly.
The revised Radio Equipment Directive proposal is aimed at favouring a common USB-C charging port that will be convenient for consumers but the move also reduces waste.
The “directive” proposal would also establish a “harmonised” fast charging technology and that will prevent manufacturers from throttling charging speed.
The move will affect smartphones, tablets, headphones, cameras, speakers and video game consoles.
USB stands for “Universal Serial Bus”, an industry standard for short-distance digital data communications.
USB-C is the latest version of this standard and is symmetrical so that it can be inserted either way.
The USB-C is a single cable that can transmit data, audio, video and power. For example, you can connect your laptop to an external monitor using a USB-C cable. This is much faster than USB 2.0.

Unlike Samsung which ships its Galaxy smartphones with USB-C ports, Apple uses its proprietary Lightning connector to charge the iPhone.
The Lightning connector was introduced in 2012 with the arrival of the iPhone 5 and since then Apple has stuck to the Lightning connector on its most successful product, although its other products like the iPad Air 4 and recent MacBooks now use USB-C instead of Lightning as its standard connector. Even Apple’s latest iPhone 13 series uses the standard Lightning Connector for charging.

there is a reason why the iPhone still supports the Lightning connector and not USB-C.
By removing the Lightning connector from the iPhone means Apple will take a hit on its lucrative accessories business.

There is an ecosystem around a Lightning Connector and killing it immediately will create an issue for the accessories makers, plus the move could be troublesome especially for consumers.