EU Pushes Ahead To Legalize A Common Charger Standard

Way, way back in the day, phone makers would create their own proprietary chargers that could only be used for their phones, but eventually many of them ended up switching over to micro USB, and then later USB-C, which is the current standard. However, if there is one lone holdout, it would be Apple.

The EU has been trying to get Apple to come on board the standardize train for a while now, but now it looks like they will no longer be asking nicely. According to a report from Reuters, one of their sources told them that next month, the European Commission will be presenting legislation that will essentially legally mandate phone makers to adhere to a standardized charging system.

It is expected that this legislation will be based on the recommendations the EU proposed before, where manufacturers who have their own system, like Apple, will need to adopt a connector that makes their charger compatible with others.

Apple has previously argued against a standardized charger, but we’re not sure if those arguments are holding up these days. This is because with the iPad Pro, Apple finally adopted USB-C and ditched Lightning, so there’s really no reason why they can’t do that with the iPhone as well.

That being said, there have been rumors that Apple could introduce a portless iPhone. This means that when that does happen, this legislation won’t really matter so much anymore, or will need to be revised to cover such devices.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Legal