All Mobile Phones & Tablets Must Have The Same Charging Port – EU Says

In a bid to reduce waste, the European Union has agreed that all phones and tablets must use the same charging ports.

This new agreement will force all companies to make USB-C the common charging port on all their small electronic devices by autumn 2024, the European Union announced. Sometime after that, all laptops too will be required to use the port.

The ruling would require Apple to redesign the iPhone, and force it to drop the Lightning cable that has been used on its devices for 10 years. Most Android phones already use a USB-C port for charging.

The European Union has argued that the different charging ports used by different companies encourage electronic waste and create confusion for customers and so a proposed regulation would require phones and other small electronics to switch to USB-C.

But companies, including Apple, have argued that having the flexibility in charging ports to include in their devices allows for better performance. For example, Apple’s Lightning cable is shorter than a standard USB-C plug.

However, Apple’s resistance to the plug may be weak, and a recent Bloomberg report suggested it was working on a USB-C enabled iPhone. It’s already switched from Lightning to USB-C in its iPads, as well as its laptops.

And some reports have suggested that Apple intends to remove the charging plug altogether, instead of encouraging users to power their devices via wireless charging.

The European Union said it would bring in new rules aimed at standardizing those wireless charging technologies in the future. The new agreement will be formally approved by the EU’s parliament and council after the summer recess, and it will then be published in the EU’s official journal. It will go into effect 20 days later, and the rules will then apply after 24 months.

Devices that are first sold before Autumn 2024 will not have to comply with the new rules.