Wednesday, October 5th 2022
USB-C Chargers Are the Future: European Union Signs Common Charging Standard Into Law
From 2024, all mobile devices in the European Union will have to use USB-C as the standard charging port, courtesy of a new law that was passed by the European Parliament. This means that mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones and headsets, handheld videogame consoles and portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems and earbuds, all have to sport a USB-C port for charging in the near future. Many of these devices already do, with the main exception being Apple, although many lower-end devices still rely on micro USB, due to the lower cost. The European Parliament voted 602 in favour of the new law, with only 13 parliamentarians being against and eight that abstained, which shows that most EU nations were in favour of the move.
From 2026, laptops which adhere to the USB PD 3.0 standard, i.e. up to 100 Watts, will be required to charge via USB-C as well. As such, it seems like the EU didn't enforce support for USB PD 3.1, which goes up to 240 Watts. The EU is also planning on enforcing a common wireless charging standard, which is expected to come into effect by the end of 2024. It's not clear which standard will be chosen, but it's highly likely to be the Qi standard, as it's the most commonly used wireless charging standard.
Source:
The European Parliament
From 2026, laptops which adhere to the USB PD 3.0 standard, i.e. up to 100 Watts, will be required to charge via USB-C as well. As such, it seems like the EU didn't enforce support for USB PD 3.1, which goes up to 240 Watts. The EU is also planning on enforcing a common wireless charging standard, which is expected to come into effect by the end of 2024. It's not clear which standard will be chosen, but it's highly likely to be the Qi standard, as it's the most commonly used wireless charging standard.
105 Comments on USB-C Chargers Are the Future: European Union Signs Common Charging Standard Into Law
It's stupid to have everyone using custom cables and standards because that's why shit like macs exploding when a USB hub were connected to them occurs
Apple just want to sell products that can't be used for any competing devices, so that you stay with them out of fear of losing your 'investment' in chargers, accesories and app purchases that cant be used on other platforms
Not a great plan...
Seriously though, none of your "arguments" here are anything beyond FUD and scaremongering. How, exactly, does standardizing USB-C "create monopolies"? For whom? How? How does it hinder innovation, precisely? And how does standardizing chargers and charging cables not have the potential to reduce e-waste? Sure, some of this benefit has already happened through debundling chargers, but this would never have happened unless the industry had already been moving towards standardization of USB-C and PD.
If you manage to break it, it's usually the connector that breaks first. The Lightning connector is also very rounded on the tip, which reduces it happening. It also slips in & out way easier.
Here are some examples from broken Lighting connectors. Couldn't find anything about broken Lighting ports. Broken USB ports however en mass, where it's very often straight rips off the USB port from the board. So you see, what reduces e-waste more, a broken cable or a device with a broken USB port (which very often isn't worth it getting it fixed)? :rolleyes:
Charger broke off inside iPhone 7
How to tell if your iPhone Lightning charging cable is a fake
Remove Broken Cable From iPhone/iPad Easily!Patents & licensing fees for products using them. And of course who will get the license & who doesn't. ;)
But "Lightning" vs. "USB-C" is a bad example. Turns out Apple is also the owner of the USB-C patent, lol.
That "insert superglue into your phone's port" is a gem though.
Just do some research on the web. Or send some eMails to smartphone fixing shops, bet you'll hear the same from them.
As for durability: what you're saying here largely applied to micro USB, but not USB-C, which is far stronger. There's an argument to be made for designing for the cable to fail first being a good approach, however there's a matching argument to be made for how lightning is designed to fail early and often to sell more cables. Durable hardware is the best of both worlds, and USB-C delivers that. No hardware is infallible, but USB-C is pretty strong.
As this is an EU law, I think that's a fair comparison.
That said, this is also a reason why a common, global charging standard makes sense, as you can take your product, that you bought in Germany, fly to wherever in the world and know that you'll be able to charge it when you arrive. That's a pretty solid reason for making USB-C the standard charging connector in my book.
Just today, someone in my uni class asked for an iPhone charger, which no-one had with with them, while several people had USB-C chargers...There's no licensing fee for USB at all, however, there is a certification cost if you want to use the USB-IF logos.
Even a "bad" GaN charger is better than a traditional charger in almost all scenarios.
On top of that, lower output chargers can in general charge something like a laptop that comes with a 100 W charger just fine, it just takes longer.
I don't even need to provide links, it's in the news here every other month about someone getting electrocuted or a house burning down and it's always apple products
And unlike the USA, apple is a minority here so it's not because theres more of themI've only seen maybe 2-3 damaged phone USB ports over the years and maybe 10 on PC's - all from users who would break *anything* they had.
I'm still using the charging cables that came with my Pixel 1, i'm yet to have a single USB C cable break on me and only one port - the port on my Fractal Define R6 which had something fall inside it and catch fire
Lightning is 480Mb and 10W
USB-C can scale from that to 80Gb and 240W, letting it be used on cheap stuff or expensive products. It's a no brainer.
One single 65W charger in my house charges:
4x phones
2x samsung tablets
2x older samsung tablets using a micro-B to C converter
3x nintendo switch
1x quest 2
1x Xbox elite S2 controller
3x nintendo switch controllers (all different types)
2x Chromecast w/ remote
I still need a 5V 1A genuine apple charger and cord here, because we have friends with iphones that are always flat, and refuse to work off generic equipment.
All of these type-C devices are intercompatible with accesories - all the host devices can work with the same chargers (Not always with quick charging, but they all charge off a basic 5V 1A at minimum)
They all work with USB-C headphones
Chromecast, phones, tablets, switches - all work with the same USB-C hub that adds USB ports for mice/keyboards/card readers/USB speakers. They all "just work" together.
Even apple knows it's useless, or they'd not be using type C for their laptops.
They just like having you spend money for hardware that goes in the bin if you leave them - you need to buy EVERYTHING from them so they profit, and none of it may work for another brand if you do.
Nothing like an apple user wanting to back up their 100GB of photos and videos and finding out they're stuck paying for cloud storage since you cant copy/paste over USB, and they're limited to 30MB/s if they use ghetto solutions to try and make it work
They're extremely USA centric
Even if USB 5 comes with better power delivery, your legacy USB-PD would still be able to deliver at least 100W. I think a lot of devices will continue to be fine with that.