Charging Apple
The European Union is taking a hard stance on CE uniformity and while discussions on a common charging platform for mobile devices has been ongoing for years, while ‘encouraging’ device producers to convert to a uniform charging platform, the EU is now moving forward with legislation to implement such a change with a bit more force than simple ‘encouragement’. The EU has announced legislation to establish a common charging platform that will reduce the number of mobile phone chargers from 3 (down from 30 ten years ago) to 1, the well-known USB-C charger. If passed, this will be the standard port for all smartphones, tablets, cameras, headphones, portable speakers, and handheld videogames, with a the giveback to device producers of no longer being required to bundle a charger with every device sold, a concept already being implemented by brands under the guise of reducing CE waste as opposed to reducing cost.
The proposal references unifying the charging speed of devices under the common standard and forces brands to specify the power requirements of each device and whether it supports fast charging, and will be exploring the idea of further requirements for the charger itself in the future. Once passed, brands will have two years to make the change. The EU is backing up the proposal with the fact that each consumer owns 3 mobile phone chargers, or which they use two on a regular basis and that 38% of consumers reported that they have experienced problems at least once due to the incompatibility of chargers., causing consumers to spend €2.4b ($2.8b US) on standalone chargers, which eventually cause 11,000 tons of e-waste every year.
The company most affected by the proposal would be Apple (AAPL) whose Lightening charger port is proprietary. While Apple will have to make a change, the proposal does not force a brand to have a charging port on a device, only that if it does, it must be a USB-C port. That leaves Apple with the option to make the conversion or do away with the charging port entirely and move to all wireless charging, a step above the company’s MagSafe charging solution that Apple introduced last year. That said, Apple has likely been working on a number of possible solutions given that discussions surrounding the issue have been ongoing in the EU for so long. One thing that the proposal does not address however is a port for data transfer, which leaves open the idea that any wireless charging system could also include a proprietary data transfer solution. This would allow brands to maintain at least some control of how data is shared between devices, although that is a much smaller issue. The iPhone 16 will show us the ‘new’ Apple way.
The proposal references unifying the charging speed of devices under the common standard and forces brands to specify the power requirements of each device and whether it supports fast charging, and will be exploring the idea of further requirements for the charger itself in the future. Once passed, brands will have two years to make the change. The EU is backing up the proposal with the fact that each consumer owns 3 mobile phone chargers, or which they use two on a regular basis and that 38% of consumers reported that they have experienced problems at least once due to the incompatibility of chargers., causing consumers to spend €2.4b ($2.8b US) on standalone chargers, which eventually cause 11,000 tons of e-waste every year.
The company most affected by the proposal would be Apple (AAPL) whose Lightening charger port is proprietary. While Apple will have to make a change, the proposal does not force a brand to have a charging port on a device, only that if it does, it must be a USB-C port. That leaves Apple with the option to make the conversion or do away with the charging port entirely and move to all wireless charging, a step above the company’s MagSafe charging solution that Apple introduced last year. That said, Apple has likely been working on a number of possible solutions given that discussions surrounding the issue have been ongoing in the EU for so long. One thing that the proposal does not address however is a port for data transfer, which leaves open the idea that any wireless charging system could also include a proprietary data transfer solution. This would allow brands to maintain at least some control of how data is shared between devices, although that is a much smaller issue. The iPhone 16 will show us the ‘new’ Apple way.
Apple Lightning Port & Connector - Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/armydre2008/26485948830/in/photolist-e7rUxJ-aDNbwp-dBEuJR-owBCiZ-GmtpQb-LVLNhc-KtLKZR, CC BY 2.0
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