Negotiators have reached a provisional agreement onamendmentsto the Radio Equipment Directive that will make USB - C the common charging larboard for all nomadic phones in the EU , along with laptop , tablets , digital cameras , handheld games consoles , e - readers and other portable electronic devices .
Apple has yet to respond to the word , but the timing of the ruling may bring into its hands . Ming - Chi Kuo claimed last calendar month that the fellowship was already planning to switch from Lightning to USB - C , and would do so in 2023 . In other words , the iPhone 14 could be thelast Lightning iPhone . We ’ll have a go at it more when Apple unveils itsnew iPhonesthis fall , but few analysts wait a USB - C iPhone that soon .
Of course , Apple has other alternative when considering its response . For one affair – and this assumes it is n’t already using this strategy – it could crusade back and attempt to lobby and invoke its way out : few tech companies have access to such extensive sound , political and fiscal resource . At this point , however , the EU does seem to have made up its nous .
In theory , since the opinion applies to the EU only , Apple could produce two version of its iPhones from 2024 onwards , with USB - C models sell in Europe and Lightning elsewhere , but this too seems unconvincing generate the logistical burden this would place on the company ’s supply chain .
A more likely approach , give the comparatively long time Apple has to comply with the opinion , would be to skip over over the USB - C stage and go flat to portless . An iPhone with no commit port at all has long been bruit , and would offer advantages in term of waterproofing and slimline pattern . Wireless charging ( which Apple presently champion with itsproprietary MagSafe tech ) is slower and less efficient than pumped charging , however , and many user like to have the choice of plugging in wired earphone : they put up with the passing of 3.5 mm but to have the alternative of neither Lightning nor USB - C would be an extra pain . In terms of both manufacturing practicality and user readiness we suspect that the portless iPhone is further off than 2024 .
So it looks like this is an extra cursor towards Apple adopting USB - blow on its iPhones in either 2023 or 2024 . Which is n’t such a hardship , since the company already apply the standard on so many of its MacBooks and iPads .
The move has been a long metre come . As long ago as 2014 , the European Parliament was advocating for a common courser standard that all roving phones would be hold to utilize ; aresolutionfollowed in January 2020 name on the European Commission to adopt such a criterion “ as a subject of urgency so as to avoid further interior market atomisation . ” The legislation that was approved today was first discussedin September last class .
“ Today we have made the common courser a world in Europe , ” say European Parliament example Alex Agius Saliba in apress release . “ European consumers were frustrated long with multiple courser piling up with every novel twist . Now they will be able to use a single charger for all their portable electronics . ”
