Josh Centers at TidBITS:

It’s finally official. After years of discussion and failed attempts to get the industry to standardize, the European Union has mandated that new rechargeable electronic devices sold in the EU must have USB‑C charging ports by the end of 2024. The law applies to mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones and headsets, handheld videogame consoles, portable speakers, e‑readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems, and earbuds, and it will extend to laptops in early 2026. The new law’s’ goal is to encourage more reuse of chargers and reduce electronic waste. 

I have been loving the controversy about this in the tech sphere. If you follow me closely on Twitter, I apologise in advance for rehashing stuff I already wrote there. Sometimes I use this space to collect thoughts also to the benefit of those who just read my blog and don’t care about following people on social media.

I find sadly ironical how so many people seem to be just fine with whatever tech (and Big Tech) companies impose on them and on their experience as customers and users of their products, but the moment the EU mandates USB‑C as charging standard, this becomes a scandal.

Of all the silly arguments I’ve heard against this mandate, the silliest is perhaps the one that goes like, This stifles innovation, implying that tech companies — and Apple specifically — should be left free to decide what’s best for their customers. 

Should we take a look at a few decisions Apple took in recent years to offer a ‘better’ experience in the name of innovation?

• Starting from the release of the iPhone 7 in 2016, Apple arbitrarily decided to remove the headphone jack from iPhones, forcing people to either get wireless headsets or use wired headsets via a Lightning-to‑3.5mm jack adapter; or resort to a different adapter in case they want to use headphones while charging the iPhone. I’m sure Apple is otherwise pleased with the success of their AirPods. The AirPods’ design doesn’t allow for the tiny internal batteries to be replaced, which means more e‑waste at the end of their relatively short life-cycle.
• In their effort to make thin laptops for thinness’s sake, Apple introduced a new type of keyboard with a redesigned key mechanism called butterfly mechanism. The idea was to improve things, but it turned out to be a poorly-designed solution that resulted in a high rate of failing keyboards, with many many customers having to bring their MacBooks to get their keyboard replaced at least once — but I know of many instances where people had to have their MacBook’s keyboard replaced two or even three times, and sometimes even out of warranty. This of course for customers meant additional expenses, not just headaches.
• With the new MacBooks introduced in 2016, Apple dropped any port that wasn’t USB‑C/Thunderbolt, leading users to resort to USB adapters for anything — the infamous ‘dongle life’: want to connect a flash drive? Use an adapter. Want to read the SD or CF card of your camera? Use an adapter. Want to connect the MacBook via Ethernet to a wired network? Use an adapter. Want to connect a video projector for a presentation? Use an adapter. And so forth.

Some technophiles are quick in labelling the EU politicians as being idiots, ignorant bureaucrats that don’t know how technology works. Given the examples above, are we so sure tech companies really know what’s best for their customers? 

And what sort of benefits would bring keeping Lightning around, exactly? What’s the ‘innovation’ there? In theory, the Lightning specification would allow for more uses than just charging, but even Apple itself has been under-utilising Lightning. So, if Lightning is essentially reduced to just being an alternative, proprietary charging solution, then I think it makes pragmatic sense to want to standardise charging solutions. Let’s don’t forget that mandating USB‑C will also make Micro-USB connectors and cables hopefully disappear. Along with all those cheap AC adapters (Lightning or Micro-USB) that come with non-detachable cables.

But anyway, what kind of innovation in charging technology this EU mandate is impeding? The only bit of innovation I’ve seen in this field in recent times is wireless charging and fast charging. With fast charging, we’re at a point that a smartphone is mostly recharged in little more than half an hour. Wireless charging still has room for improvement, in my opinion, but mandating a USB‑C port on the device won’t certainly impede progress in perfecting how wireless charging is implemented.

In other words, I think charging isn’t exactly a fast-moving aspect of technology that warrants being immune from standardisation attempts. If it were for the Silicon Valley types, people would have to change their power plugs and outlets every 5 years or so because ‘innovation’.

But even if we embrace the innovation argument, consider the following scenario: one year from now, Samsung comes out with a new charging technology and a new charging port. A proprietary port, of course. The astounding performance of this technology is touted as yet another feature to convince people to switch to Samsung devices. Now we have yet another charging port to deal with. Imagine those professionals who — either for personal or work reasons — are typically multi-device and multi-platform. When travelling they would have to deal with Lightning cables, USB‑C cables, different AC adapters, and the new Samsung cables on top of all that.

Having only USB‑C to deal with simplifies things a lot, and if some people bothered to look beyond their personal use cases, they would understand this. Having only USB‑C means that if you’re travelling with a MacBook, an iPhone, an iPad, and a modern camera, you’re most likely fine by just taking two USB‑C cables with you, and not even additional adapters other than the MacBook AC adapter, if you really want to travel light.

The reduction of e‑waste is something that isn’t admittedly apparent straight away; and that’s why, I assume, many people complain that this EU mandate solves next to nothing in this regard. The efficiency of having only USB‑C for charging starts being noticeable over time, though. When a device or appliance that uses Micro-USB, Lightning, or even other proprietary cables for charging, fails or you get rid of it otherwise, you’ll have to throw the corresponding cable or adapter as well (unless you find a way to reuse it with something else). If a device or appliance that charges via USB‑C fails or get thrown away or sold, both the cable and the AC adapter can be reused with every other USB-C-powered device. You don’t have to throw away proprietary cables/chargers, and you don’t have to buy new ones either. This, over a certain amount of time, and at scale, could be compelling. Less wasteful. Responsible.

Perhaps even innovative, in a sense.

EU mandates USB‑C as standard for charging ports. Good. was first published by Riccardo Mori on Morrick.me on 10 October 2022.