IPhone: Europe wants to impose a single charger on Apple by 2024

The European Commission will table a draft directive on Thursday, September 24, 2021. These measures could require manufacturers of smartphones and tablets to adopt a single charger, with the obligation to integrate a USB Type-C port on their devices. . In addition, the chargers should be interchangeable.

This is a thorny question which has occupied the European Commission since 2009. At that time, the institution noted with dismay that there were around thirty different and incompatible load standards. In fact, the question of a universal and interoperable charger quickly arrived on the table.

Initial pressure from the Commission made it possible to reduce this number to three, with Apple’s USB Type-C, micro USB and Lightening port. But in the eyes of Brussels, it is still too much. That is why it was decided to put the measurement of the single charger back on the mat. This Thursday, September 24, 2021, the European Commission will table a draft directive requiring manufacturers of smartphones and tablets to equip their devices sold on the Old Continent with a single, interoperable charger.

More precisely, all the devices in question must be equipped with at least a USB Type-C port, with however the possibility of housing a second port. And as said above, the chargers must be interchangeable, the cables must be able to be used without loss of performance from one product to another. Besides, the project will also prohibit systematically incorporating a charger in the box of new devices.

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The adoption of the single charger from 2024?

On this last point, the European Commission is late, many manufacturers having already started to remove the charger from the box of their devices such as Apple with the iPhone 12, Samsung with the S21 or even Google with the Pixel 6. “More than 2 billion chargers are already in circulation in the world. By not producing them, we will save 2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions ″, explained Lisa Jackson, vice president of sustainability at Apple.

This measure will be presented by the teams of Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market. It will concern smartphones and tablets, but also headphones, cameras, or even connected speakers. The European executive hopes for a final adoption of the text in the first half of 2022, before consideration by Parliament and the European Council. This device could then enter into force in 2024, this period being necessary to transcribe the measure into the national law of the 27 Member States, then to give manufacturers time to comply.

Source: Les Echos