This week, European Union lawmakers agreed on new proposals to force manufacturers of everything from smartphones and headphones to digital cameras and tablets to use the same universal charging port: USB Type-C. The plan is for the new rules to take effect by the fall of 2024, after which these devices, which are charged with a cable, will have to do so via a built-in USB-C port.
The biggest impact of this legislation is likely to be on Apple’s iPhone. While the rest of the smartphone industry is gradually moving closer to USB-C as a single, standardized charging cable port, Apple is adamant about Lightning, its own connector, which it introduced with the iPhone 5 back in 2012. EU law may finally to force it to move forward.
Apple is the only major smartphone maker that hasn’t embraced USB-C
EU rules are currently only an interim agreement and will have to be approved by both the European Council and the European Parliament before they become formal. This is expected to happen after the summer vacation, which ends on September 1. It will take effect 20 days later, and most manufacturers will have 24 months to figure out where the compliance date in the fall of 2024 comes from. These devices require are less common than phone chargers. Instead, they will have 40 months, which brings us to approximately the beginning of 2026.
If Apple wants the iPhone to have a physical charging port after the fall of 2024, then the EU wants USB-C to be its only option. He can’t just offer a foreign key, as he did a decade ago. Recent public drafts of the proposed legislation specify that the USB Type-C connector used for charging must remain “accessible and operational at all times”, which means that the detachable key is unlikely to cut it. This is because EU rules are designed to reduce e-waste, with a universal charging standard, which we hope will mean that more chargers can be reused instead of ending up in landfills. The EU estimates that the rules could reduce 11,000 metric tonnes (over 12,000 tonnes) of e-waste per year and save customers € 250 million (about $ 268 million) from “unnecessary charger purchases”.
We have a deal for the common charger!
This means more savings for EU consumers and less waste for the planet:
mobile phones, tablets, cameras … everyone will use USB type Harmonized technology for fast charging, decoupling sales of chargers #SingleMarket #DigitalEU pic.twitter.com/qw2cJV4RY0
– European Commission (@EU_Commission) 7 June 2022
New flagship iPhones are usually announced in September each year, which means Apple’s 2024 iPhone range (likely to be called the iPhone 16) will launch just as legislation comes into force. But the rules dictate that “there should be no products on the market that do not comply with the directive,” said Desislava Dimitrova, a spokeswoman for the European Parliament. This means that Apple may want to make the changes earlier, as it will have to modify or withdraw older models from the market. Apple usually continues to sell older models for several years at a lower price.
There are already reports that the iPhone maker may make the change next year. Last month, renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple might be ready to make the change as early as 2023. Days later, Bloomberg’s Mark Gourmet confirmed the report and said Apple was already testing iPhones equipped with the connector. To be precise, these reports suggest that we may see an iPhone equipped with a USB-C port a year before the new EU rules take effect.
Of course, the EU cannot force Apple to make a global change. But all iPhones sold in the European Union’s single market will have to follow these rules. In fiscal 2021, nearly a quarter of Apple’s net sales came from Europe, and the iPhone was the world’s best-selling product. The market is just too lucrative for Apple to abandon legislation like this. Apple can make iPhones with USB-C and ship them exclusively to the EU, but given that Apple is focusing on supply chain efficiency, which sees it selling a narrow selection of many similar devices around the world ( with only a few special models as an exception) that approach seems unlikely.
An Apple spokesman declined to answer questions about how the company intends to comply with upcoming legislation.
For now, the rules do not apply to wireless charging
There is at least one way Apple can avoid having to supply USB-C ports to its phones, and that’s thanks to wireless charging. Current EU legislation only deals with cable charging, so if the phone is only charged wirelessly, it could circumvent EU rules to harmonize charging completely.
This is a theoretical difference, given that non-sports phones do not actually exist outside the realm of several concept phones and advertising stunts. But this is important given the rumors that Apple is considering going this route with the iPhone. These rumors have been circulating since Apple introduced the MagSafe wireless charging standard with the iPhone 12 line. However, these rumors have disappeared and the decision to stick to cable charging may explain why Apple seems relatively uninterested in building an ecosystem of MagSafe accessories.
Apple has opposed EU attempts to standardize USB-C. In a feedback provided to the European Commission last year, the company said the regulation could delay “the introduction of useful innovations in charging standards, including those related to safety and energy efficiency”. He also said the new rules could increase e-waste in the short term “by triggering the disposal of existing cables and accessories”. It makes sense. With approximately 1 billion iPhones in use worldwide by early 2021, this is a lot of charging hardware that will become redundant over time. And all these customers will need new USB-C accessories to replace them.
Apple’s iPhone 5 (pictured) was his first device with a Lightning port. Image: The Verge
As my former colleague Chaim Gartenberg wrote last year, Apple’s concerns could have as much to do with Apple’s end result as it does with e-waste or innovation. Because Lightning is its own connector, any accessory manufacturer who wants to support it must go through Apple’s MFi program, which allows Apple to gain a share of the lucrative iPhone accessories market.
The irony is that despite its opposition to the placement of a USB-C port on its phones, Apple is one of the biggest champions of USB-C in other categories of devices. From its laptop business, the company started all-in on USB-C in 2015 when it launched a MacBook that included only one USB-C port, along with a headphone jack. If nothing else, Apple embraced USB-C too quickly, forcing many ridiculed “dongle” users around the world. Apple has also introduced USB-C in a growing number of its iPads, such as the iPad Pro and more recently the iPad Air.
(As a side note: although devices covered by EU rules must be able to charge via USB-C, they should not use this as their only form of charging. This means that MacBooks that charge via MagSafe – the laptop version that is – they are still free to do so, as long as their USB-C ports can also charge them. And this is already the case with Apple’s latest MacBook.)
Apple’s headphones, wireless mice and keyboards are also affected by the proposals
If the legislation comes into force in its current form, Apple will have to move from Lightning to USB-C in the EU, not just the iPhone. According to a press release from the European Council, headphones, earphones, wireless mice and wireless keyboards will be needed to use USB-C for wired charging. This will cover AirPods Max, AirPods, Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard, all of which currently use Lightning.
In addition to urging smartphone makers to use the physical USB-C port, the EU also intends to standardize fast-charging phones, where Apple is starting to lag behind its Android-based competitors. The iPhone 13 Pro Max has charges below 30 W, while Samsung’s USB PD-compatible Galaxy S22 devices can extend up to 45 W. The EU hopes to standardize wireless charging in the future.
New EU legislation is still far from being passed. It must be finalized at technical level and voted on by both the European Parliament and the European Council. But between it and the Digital Markets Act, which includes a requirement for iMessage to interact with other smaller messaging platforms, as well as a requirement for Apple to allow third-party app stores on the iPhone, the organization is making major changes to Apple. And the iPhone maker will have little choice but to play ball if he wants to continue to take advantage of one of its largest markets.
Add Comment