According to a report from Reuters, the EU is proposing legislation that all devices come with a common mobile charger in September. This move would affect Apple the most, as it uses Lightning cables, while most Android phones use UBC-C. As you might expect, Apple objects to this potential legislation, as it did when this was first brought up last year.
Based on the report, the European Commission will present legislation to set a common charger for mobile phones and other electronic devices in September. That means we won’t have to wait too long to determine whether this ends up becoming a rule in the EU.
According to a study conducted by the European Commission, during 2018, 50-percent of phones in the EU were sold with micro-USB connectors, 29-percent had a USB C connector, and 21-percent had a Lightning connector. However, this study was conducted in 2019 based on 2018 sales, so the number of USB-C phones has likely increased substantially since then.
The idea behind this move is to create a situation where users would be able to use one charger cable regardless of what phone they’re using. The Commission also talked about the environmental benefits of using a single cable across all smartphones.
Apple says that using a single charger would hurt innovation and create a mountain of electronic waste as consumers who own whatever cable they choose to force won’t be able to use them with future devices.
We’ll have to wait until next month to see if this goes through, as both the side of unifying chargers and keeping chargers independent of the government have compelling arguments.
