The EU wants USB-C as a charging standard despite Apple’s protest

V European Union It has been debated for many years that smartphones and other devices should be charged in the same standard way (USB-C). According to a news agency Reuters the topic will soon be finally discussed at the legislative level, despite Apple’s protests.

The standard charging connector will mainly make wrinkles from Apple

The European Union’s executive and its legislators have been pushing for a common charger for more than a decade. Environmental benefits and greater convenience for users of electronic devices are mostly cited as reasons. The European Commission will present a legislative proposal for a common charging standard for smartphones, tablets, laptops or headphones on Thursday.

That standard should be no big surprise USB-C connector, which is installed in most Android smartphones today. In addition, electronic devices could continue to use other charging standards. An example is Qi wireless charging, which today only has more expensive models or various tablet docking connectors.

This, of course, will affect American society the most Applewho has been protesting against the introduction of such a standard for years. He has been using his own in his facilities for a long time Lightning connector. This makes it difficult for third-party manufacturers to manufacture accessories and forces their customers to stay with their own product ecosystem.

This is quite incomprehensible on the part of Apple. In the field of laptops, the company was among the first to introduce a USB-C connector. IPads (with the exception of the basic iPad) have also been using USB-C connectors for several years.

Of course, the legislation will also affect the manufacturers of Android smartphones. Especially Chinese manufacturers still use the older MicroUSB connector in cheap devices. Back in 2018, half of the smartphones on the market had this older connector. According to a European Commission study from 2019, 29% of them already had a USB-C connector and 21% of devices had a Lightning connector from Apple. At present, USB-C clearly predominates.

Will the smartphone packs be without a charging adapter?

However, this is not all that the legislation proposes. Another point is that charging adapters would be sold outside the packaging of smartphones. We can already see this trend in the packaging of flagship models of some manufacturers. Examples are Apple and Samsung. They justify it for ecological reasons and claim that customers from previous models accumulate unnecessarily at home. The European Union has the same view on this issue.