The European Union (EU) member states and parliament on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, agreed on the text of a law imposing a standard charger for smartphones and tablets sold in the bloc, a decision which is a blow to Apple Incorporation.

A statement by the European Parliament’s Press Service, noted that for most portable devices, the requirement for charging via a USB Type-C port will come into effect in late 2024. The EU’s justification is on the basis that a standard cable for all devices will cut back on electronic waste, but iPhone juggernaut, Apple argued that a one-size-fits-all charger would slow innovation and create more pollution.

The bloc is home to some 450 million people, which has some of the world’s richest consumers, and the imposition of the USB-C as a cable standard could affect the entire global smartphone market.

A Member of the European Parliament, Andrey Kovatchev, who doubles as one of the negotiators, defended the decision that “This new law will make the lives of European consumers easier and will be better for the environment”. Kovatchev further added that “It is time to put an end to the piles of cables that we all have in our drawers and save about 11,000 tonnes of electronic waste per year”.

Options Left for Consumers

Consumers currently have to decide between phones served by three main chargers: “Lightning” for Apple handsets, the micro-USB widely used on most other mobile phones and the newer USB-C that is increasingly coming into use.

That range is already greatly simplified from 2009, when dozens of different types of chargers were bundled with mobile phones, creating piles of electronic garbage when users changed brands. In making its proposal last year (2021), the EU said the current situation remained wasteful and that European consumers spent approximately 2.4 billion euros ($2.8 billion) annually on unrelated chargers they bought separately.

Ample Time to Transition

The European Commission long defended a voluntary agreement it made with the device industry that was set in place in 2009, and that saw a big reduction in cables, but Apple refused to abide by it.

In the Commission’s proposal, it stated that smartphone makers will be given a 24-month transition period, giving “ample time” for companies to fall in line. But Apple is of the view that it believed the two-year transition period is a worry for the industry and also too short to prevent the sale of existing equipment.

EU consumer group, A&N Electric Cooperative (ANEC) cautiously welcomed the proposal but urged that the plan be expanded to wireless charging systems, which are increasingly being adopted by phone makers. ANEC said, “It is therefore important to avoid any fragmentation in this area as well”.

Meanwhile, Apple, which already uses USB-C connectors on some of its iPads and laptop computers, has insisted any legislation to force a universal charger for all mobile devices in the European Union is unwarranted.