“More and more chargers are being sold with more and more devices that cannot be used on other devices or are not necessary,” Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said on Thursday, an initiative by Brussels.
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The new rules should not only apply to smartphones and tablets, but also to other portable devices – such as electronic readers, cameras, speakers or wireless headphones. These devices are not always equipped with USB-C connectors, much more common is the older and slower microUSB standard. This is cheaper for the manufacturer.
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USB-C interface
Photo: Profimedia.cz
Apple has been against it so far
Apple is considered to be probably the biggest opponent of the single charger. It constantly uses the lightning interface for its iPhones, this also applies to the latest iPhones 13, which will only start selling this week.
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At the same time, Apple offers several iPad tablet models with USB-C connectors. The advantages of this solution are undeniable, such as faster data transfers and charging, but also support for a much larger number of accessories. Apple also uses USB-C chargers on its MacBooks.
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Questions from why Apple has long since switched to USB-C chargers for iPhones are regularly ignored by company representatives. It doesn’t even solve the fact that it’s very uncomfortable for users, because they have to have different chargers for iPhones, iPads and MacBooks.
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Less waste
Since the unification of the end of the charging cable, the EU executive has been promising that it will make life easier for ordinary users and that this will help reduce the amount of electrical waste. The proposal envisages that people will not have to pack a charger with each device, as has been the case so far.
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The European Commission has been solving the single charger for several years, after negotiations with the manufacturers it managed to reduce the market from several dozen terminals to only three. These are the lightning, microUSB and USB-C interfaces mentioned.
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If Wednesday’s proposal is supported by the European Parliament and the Member States, USB-C will be the common standard for smartphones and other devices.
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MicroUSB interface
Photo: manufacturer’s archive
Poll
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