Status: 23.01.2020 8:04 p.m..
The EU Parliament insists that manufacturers offer uniform charging systems for cell phones, tablets and other devices. This meets with rejection at Apple – it would ultimately harm consumers, according to the company.
Apple has spoken out against the idea of prescribing a uniform standard for charging sockets in electrical devices such as smartphones in Europe. The company said it was convinced that this would slow down innovation and harm consumers in Europe.
The background to this is recently more active efforts by the European Parliament and the EU Commission to ensure more compatibility with chargers. In mid-January, parliament declared that manufacturers would have to offer standardized charging systems for cell phones, tablets, e-book readers and other similar devices. This should reduce electronic waste and make life easier for consumers.
Uniform mobile phone chargers from 2017.
Bill planned.
A spokeswoman for the EU Commission said that a study should be presented next week or at the beginning of February that would shed light on the effects of a uniform charger for consumers and business, among other things. On this basis, a legislative proposal http://ap-news.space/planting-a-christmas-rose-tips-for-the-correct/ should then be presented in the coming months. The Brussels authority was of the opinion that a mandatory approach was needed.
It tried to clear the jungle of different charging systems more than ten years ago. At the time, it was common for phones from different manufacturers to have incompatible charging sockets. The cables were also firmly connected to the charger – so a new charger was automatically required when changing providers.
After a voluntary commitment by the industry, today’s approach of having a connection socket on the chargers instead of a fixed cable prevailed. For some political actors, however, this does not go far enough. There are considerations to also define a standard for the charging sockets on the smartphones themselves.
“Unprecedented amount of electronic waste”
Only a few formats are currently in use. The micro-USB format used by many manufacturers in the past is on the decline and is being replaced by the more modern USB-C. Apple is sticking to its own Lightning connector on the iPhone, iPod Touch and most iPad models, but uses USB-C for some devices such as the iPad Pro or Macbook laptops.
At the same time, USB-C is slowly becoming the standard for the output socket on the power supply.
Apple argues that a blanket requirement for a standard charging socket would force consumers to replace their current Lightning cables – and thus have a negative effect on the environment with an “unprecedented amount of electrical bulkheads”. In addition, the group indicated that neither Lightning nor USB-C would have established themselves with their improved options if the technically simpler micro-USB format had been established as the standard at the time, as planned. “We hope that the Commission will continue to look for a solution that does not limit the ability of the industry to offer innovations and new technologies to consumers.”