Two more years, then all electronic devices sold in Europe will adopt a single charger. “Today final discussion in the plenary of the European Parliament. Starting in autumn 2024 the moment when we had to fight with so many different shippers will start to become a memory of old, strange times of useless costs, waste and inconvenience “: so the executive vice president of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, in a post on Twitter where he shows a tangle of magazines in the European Parliament.
Behind the decision of the EU is the desire to reduce economic waste (around 250 million euros per year for new battery chargers) and the ecological impact (over 100 tons of electronic waste less). The new rules will soon be definitively approved, but – continues Vestager – “the European Parliament has agreed on a transition period of 24 months after the entry into force of the act for all devices and 40 months for laptops. . For this transition period it will allow companies to adapt to the legislation. ”
The Apple case
The single charger, however, will be a revolution more in words than in deeds. Already today, in fact, most gadgets, smartphones, computers are equipped with USB-C ports: born in 2014, it is an established standard, and using it is convenient for everyone, also due to the economies of scale that can be implemented ( for example for chargers and cables, where you just need to rebrand any OEM product).
The only notable exception is Apple, but on closer inspection in Cupertino they will not have to worry too much about the decisions of Brussels. First of all for the timing of implementation of the EU legislation: by autumn 2024, a date that seems to have been chosen specifically for the iPhone, traditionally presented at the beginning of September. The next model, the 15, will arrive in 2023, and may already be equipped with USB-C, so Tim Cook can say that he arrived at this solution before it was imposed on him by the new rules.
Other products with the proprietary Lightning connector will also switch to USB-C in a reasonably short time: AirPods, Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, and even the iPhone case with battery. It is not difficult, because most of these are accessories where the Lightning connector is only used for charging, and then because it would be an advantage for Apple too to be able to use a single connector for all its products, excluding the MagSafe of laptops. which, however, can be loaded via Usb.
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The dilemma of innovation
Meanwhile, Apple has included USB-C ports on several products, starting with the iPad Pro, even in the version with additional Thunderbolt standard for faster data transfer; the basic iPad will almost certainly have a USB-C port, the new version of which is expected shortly. All the chargers currently in the catalog have a Usb-C socket, where a different cable must be inserted from time to time: for the Watch, for the iPad, for the iPhone, for the MacBook. On the other hand, the EU will hardly be able to force smartwatch manufacturers to insert a USB-C port on the devices, for reasons of size and resistance to wear, water, dust. To comply with the new standards, will it be enough to have a base or a cable that has a USB-C connector at one end? If this were to be the case, all smartwatches on the market would already be in order today.
Again: the MacBook Air launched last July adopts a charger with two Usb-C ports, which can be used at the same time, to recharge the computer and products of any brand. The new Apple computer, like all the other laptops of the Cupertino company (and many other brands), can be recharged using a Usb-C port or the dedicated MagSafe connector. Included in the package is a special cable, which on the one hand has a magnetic connector that detaches easily if you trip over it, but on the other hand ends in a regular USB-C connector.
For computers, the EU gives an additional deadline to adapt: 40 months after the entry into force of the new rules. Today Apple and many others would already be in order, but the real question is another, as some already point out on Twitter: will deciding by law that one standard is better than another will not hinder innovation and research into possible alternative solutions?
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