The European Union has set a specific deadline by which manufacturers must have changed the charging port on their devices.
Manufacturers officially have until December 28, 2024 to comply with the new European legislation and adopt the USB-C port on the devices concerned. Applethe main company targeted by this legislation, therefore still has two years ahead of it to develop its strategy.
The end of the wait
At the beginning of October, the European Parliament definitely voted for the adoption of the USB-C port as the only standard authorized in the European Union. Smartphones, tablets, e-readers, headphones, headphones, portable consoles, digital cameras or even mice… All these types of devices must have a USB-C port on board to be recharged. Only one data remained to be determined: the final date of application of the legislation. The statement from Parliament only mentioned a vague “end of 2024”.
The directive was published yesterday in the official newspaper of the EU. This will enter into force 20 days following its publication, i.e. on December 28, 2022 and will give EU Member States up to 24 months to apply it at home. Companies will therefore have to follow this calendar with, as a deadline, December 28, 2024. Laptops, on the other hand, will not be affected before April 2026.
Eyes on Apple
The directive explains its purpose in these terms: “Harmonization should pursue the objectives of ensuring consumer convenience, reducing environmental waste and avoiding market fragmentation between different charging interfaces and communication protocols for charging, as well as between possible initiatives taken at national level which might impede trade in the internal market. »
If Apple is obviously never directly cited, the apple giant is nonetheless one of the main players to whom this directive is addressed. Even if the apple brand has adopted USB-C on some of its products (the iPad for example), and announced that it agreed to comply with the new directives, its iPhoneso popular, are still only equipped with Apple’s own Lightning port.
Rumors are swirling as to when the giant will make this change to its smartphones. Some say as early as iPhone 15 next year. Others believe that Apple might wait a bit longer. After all, it still has two years left – that’s two generations of smartphones.
