May mean Apple has to change it’s charging port if they want to continue selling iPhone in Europe.
The folks in the EU have decided that all devices sold within the European Union area will be legally required to come with a USB-C port for charging.
The aim is to reduce electrical waste by standardising charging ports for devices by late 2024 so users don’t need to buy a different charging cable each time they buy a new product. Customers save money (although come on, we all know that cost will be put somewhere else) and there should be few cables and parts ending up in landfill.
European parliament spokesperson Alex Saliba said: “Today we have made the common charger a reality in Europe.
“European consumers were long frustrated with multiple chargers piling up with every new device. Now they will be able to use a single charger for all their portable electronics.”
The proposals, whilst agreed, are yet to be approved by the European Parliment and European Council. If it all goes through, Apple will be the biggest phone manufacturer impacted due to their own lightning port and cable being used for charging iPhones.
It would mean Apple need to add a USB-C charging port to future iPhone models or replace the Lightning port altogether.
Apple has introduced USB-C ports to MacBooks and some iPads, so may be they knew this was inevitable. Either way, no doubt many Android fans will rejoice in having to see Apple follow the rest of the mobile phone market.
Funny how something so simple as a charging port can drum up so many news headlines.
