Great unification: According to the EU, USB-C with Power Delivery should be in all smartphones within two years. What about Apple?

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According to the European Commission’s proposal, smartphones sold in the European Union will have to be equipped with a USB-C port. It promotes the Power Delivery standard for fast charging. At the same time, the obligation to sell them without a charger should be imposed (but the USB cable is not prohibited). The change is to apply to other electronics in addition to minor ones. Manufacturers will be given two years to make the change.

The European Commission is following the path of ecology. Packing the charger with each new smartphone is a bit unnecessary. People then accumulate at home. Some 420 million portable electronic devices, including smartphones, have been sold in the EU last year, and the number of household chargers may not be the same as the number of devices. Especially when we replace the smartphone once in a while and the old charger remains.

On average, consumers own about three mobile phone chargers, two of which are regularly used. Discarded and unused chargers represent up to 11,000 tons of electronic waste every year. The whole directive applies to devices such as smartphones, tablets, large headphones, but not watches or small headphones. This is a bit strange, as many of the better models already include USB-C, and if microUSB versions continue to be available, unification will not be complete. The Commission justifies this by “technical reasons”, in particular dimensions.

Buy the charger separately

The sale of chargers should therefore be completely separated from phones. The number of charging connectors has decreased from 30 to 3 over the last decade, but the goal is to be a single standard. However, the disappearance of round ports from stupid phones is not due to officials, but rather as a result of the disappearance of the then stupid phones from the market.

It will only be possible to sell the smartphone with a charger if the package without the charger is also available.

Margrethe Vestagerova, Executive Vice-President for a Europe ready for the digital age, said: “European consumers have long been frustrated by the accumulation of incompatible chargers in their outlets. The industry was given plenty of time to come up with its own solutions; now is the time to take legislative action for a single charger. This is an important benefit for our consumers and the environment, in line with our environmental and digital ambitions. “

The Commission is a little late with the proposal. Promoting USB-C was on the agenda many years ago, now most Android smartphone manufacturers have switched to USB-C and the microUSB only holds the low-end due to its lower price. This pressure is directed more at Apple and its Lightning connector.

More: USB-C in smartphones: Huawei is the furthest, others find courage slowly (2016)

The Commission proposal reads as follows:

• Harmonized charging port for electronic devices: The common port will be a type C USB port. Consumers will be able to charge their devices with the same USB-C charger regardless of their brand.
• Harmonized fast charging technology will help prevent different manufacturers from unduly limiting the charging speed and ensure that the charging speed is the same for any compatible charger when using any device.
• Separation of charger sales from electronic device sales: consumers will be able to buy new electronic devices without a new charger. This will reduce the number of unintentionally purchased or unused chargers. It is estimated that limiting the production and disposal of new chargers will reduce the amount of electronic waste by almost a thousand tons per year.
• Improved consumer information: Manufacturers will need to provide relevant information on charging efficiency, including information on the power required by the device and whether it supports fast charging. This will make it easier for consumers to find out if their existing chargers meet the requirements of their new devices, or to help them choose a compatible charger. Combined with other measures, this would help consumers reduce the number of new chargers purchased and save € 250 million a year for unnecessarily purchased chargers.

USB-C itself is just the shape of a connector. Internally, it can be USB 2.0 as well as USB 3.2. Or just about Thunderbolt. At the same time, manufacturers use many different and incompatible standards for fast charging. The European Commission now prefers the Power Delivery standard with a minimum output of 15 W. This is ridiculously small compared to today’s chargers, and it can be assumed that manufacturers will choose stronger versions. The commission does not address what will happen to current fast charging technologies (some of which are better than Power Delivery).

It will be very interesting to see how manufacturers react to this. Some people don’t pack chargers today, and eco-friendly packaging is also becoming more common. There will be no problem with the microUSB until Apple’s response shows how it will all go. He can work around it all by packing the reducer (and raising the price), or by simply canceling the connector completely. Wireless charging is still evolving and in two years may be completely different.

source: EK