All phones and tablets must use the same charging ports, the EU has agreed.
A new agreement will force all companies to make USB-C the common charging port on all their smaller electronic devices by the fall of 2024, the EU has announced. Laptops should use the port for a while then.
The decision will require Apple to redesign the iPhone and force it to drop the Lightning cable that has been used on its devices for 10 years. Most Android phones already use a USB-C port for charging.
The EU has argued that the different charging gates used by different companies encourage electronic waste and lead to confusion for customers.
But companies, including Apple, have argued that having flexibility in which charging ports to include in their devices provides better performance. For example, Apple’s Lightning cable is smaller than the standard USB-C connector.
However, Apple’s resistance to the plug may have weakened, and a recent Bloomberg report suggested it was working on a USB-C-enabled iPhone. It has already switched from Lightning to USB-C in its iPads as well as its laptops.
And some reports have suggested that Apple intends to do away with the charging plug completely and instead encourage users to power their devices through wireless charging.
The EU said it would introduce new decisions to standardize these wireless charging technologies in the future.
The new agreement will be formally approved by the EU Parliament and Council after the summer holidays, and will then be published in the EU Official Journal. It will enter into force 20 days later, and the rules will then apply after 24 months.
Units sold only before the fall of 2024 will not have to comply with the new rules.
