EU Council gives final approval for USB-C port requirement, Apple confirms they will comply with law
Starting in 2024, USB-C connectors will be mandatory on small electronics sold in the EU. The Council of the European Union agreed to that last Monday. Apple has already confirmed it will comply with the adopted EU law. In doing so, however, the company did not say whether they will actually put a USB-C port on iPhones, as a device that is also wireless charging only does not need to have a USB-C port. Read more about this new development here!
New EU law
Now that the law has been approved by the Council of the European Union, it will be published in the EU Official Journal. After that, it will take 20 days for the law to take effect and manufacturers will have up to two years to start complying with it, starting in 2024. Under the new law, smartphones, tablets, e-readers, digital cameras, consoles, headphones, earbuds, navigation systems, wireless speakers, mice and keyboards must be equipped with a USB-C port if they have a physical charging port. However, if a smartphone manufacturer releases a device that is only wirelessly chargeable, it does not have to be equipped with a USB-C port. After 40 months, laptops must also be equipped with a USB-C port. So quite a turnaround for manufacturers who were not doing this yet!
Law adopted to prevent waste
The European Commission had already announced the bill last September. The EU wants to prevent chargers from being thrown away because they are not compatible with new devices purchased by consumers. This should prevent e-waste. In addition, consumers must also be given the choice of purchasing a product with or without a charger.
Apple will comply with the law
Senior vice president of Apple (Greg Joswiak) confirmed in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that they will comply with the EU law. The company will not legally challenge this law but will go along with it. However, this does not necessarily mean that iPhones will be required to have USB-C ports in the future. In fact, this is only mandatory if a device can be charged wired. So a wireless-only charging iPhone is also definitely an option and does not have to have a USB-C port. Normally Apple announces the new iPhone models in September, so we can assume that the iPhone 17 devices in the EU will stop using the Lightning port.
In addition, the Apple top executive did not address whether iPhones outside the EU will continue to be equipped with a Lightning port. However, he did indicate that he disagrees with the new legislation and is concerned that it will actually create more waste, given that a billion customers already use Lightning cables.
What do you think of the new regulations? Good idea or do you think it will backfire?
