On October 24th local time, the European Council approved the bill to "unify charger interfaces within the EU". This means that starting from 2024, all types of mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras and other electronic devices sold within the EU must use a unified type-c charging interface. Consumers can also choose whether to purchase a separate charger when purchasing electronic devices. A 40 month Grace period is allowed for notebook computers to use the unified charging interface.

Unified type-c bill: passed by a high vote on October 4 this year, the European Parliament passed a bill with 602:13 votes, deciding that from 2024, some Consumer electronics must provide a single usb c (usb type-c) charging interface.

This bill requires that starting from the end of 2024, all newly launched portable smart devices such as smartphones and tablets must use the Type-C standard charging interface. By the spring of 2026, all newly launched laptops will also require the unified use of type-c standard charging interfaces.

In fact, as early as June of this year, the bill underwent a round of negotiations and was not mandatory at that time. However, the passage of the bill means it will officially come into effect and become a mandatory standard. According to members of the Member of the European Parliament, the reason why the unified mobile phone data interface is mandatory is mainly for environmental protection. This will reduce thousands of tons of Electronic waste every year and promote the reuse of old electronic products.

According to the press release issued by the EU, the bill requires a wide range of smart devices that uniformly use type-c interface, including mobile phones, tablets, laptops and other devices that we most commonly use, as well as digital cameras, headphones/headphones, and even electronic devices that are not commonly used by the public, such as keyboards, mice, E-reader and so on.

After being signed by the President of the European Parliament and the President of the Council, this bill was published in the Official Journal of the European Union and came into effect 20 days after its publication. The new regulations will be implemented 24 months after they come into effect.

On Monday (October 24th), the European Council finally approved the bill to "unify charger interfaces within the EU". This also means that by 2024, the type-c interface will become a must-have for a range of electronic devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and headphones.

However, the date of unified charging interface for laptops is slightly later. It is reported that laptops will be restricted by this regulation 40 months after it takes effect.

This time the EU approves the bill, perhaps in two more years, EU users can "go through the EU with a type-c line".

The reason why the European Union chooses the USB type-c interface instead of Apple's proprietary Lightning ecosystem to unify charging interface standards is mainly due to its openness. USB is a new generation standard interface bus jointly proposed by major technology companies such as Microsoft and HP. The USB C charging protocol is developed and maintained by USB-IF.

According to the European Commission, the new agreement aims to make EU products more sustainable, which can not only reduce Electronic waste, but also make life easier for consumers. In the future, mobile phones and similar small devices do not need to be equipped with chargers in packaging boxes, as buyers already have suitable accessories.

The EU estimates that the new agreement will enable more chargers to be reused, reduce "unnecessary charger purchases" for consumers every year, save up to 250 million euros (currently about 1.8 billion yuan), and reduce about 11000 tons of Electronic waste.

In fact, the European Union proposed a unified charging standard in September last year, but this statement was announced after tripartite negotiations and agreement between the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Council. CNN pointed out that the bill still needs final approval before it takes effect, but new news shows that the approval process will be as smooth as a walk through.

According to reports, the European Union attempted to develop a universal charging interface standard more than a decade ago and gained industry support for the micro USB standard, but the agreement reached between major manufacturers expired in 2014. The upcoming type-c standard may become the first unified charging interface standard legislation in the European Union.

When will Apple switch to type-c?

For this requirement, technology giants can be said to be 'some people are happy and others are worried'.

Apple is expected to be one of the most affected companies. The new regulations will force it to abandon using the Lightning interface and instead use the type-c interface that many competitors are already using. However, Reuters reported that the new EU regulations may also have a positive impact on Apple, or could encourage consumers to purchase new Apple products using the type-C interface.

It is reported that the European Union began promoting a unified charging interface for portable smart devices many years ago, but Apple did not buy it, believing that this move would hinder innovation. During the EU legislative process, Apple even argued that the proposed rules would make up to 1 billion devices and accessories using Lightning chargers obsolete.

Of course, patent revenue is also considered one of the important reasons why Apple is unwilling to abandon the Lighting interface.

According to industry insiders, if Apple no longer uses the Lightning interface, it will lose billions of MFi and other licensing fees annually. And type-c does not have this issue, it is publicly authorized and can be used for free. Generally, purchasing Apple Lighting heads from official sources costs around $2-2.4 per unit.

It is worth mentioning that according to the information revealed by the industry chain, Apple is already preparing a portless version of the iPhone, charging entirely wirelessly, rather than switching to type-c.

Supply chain sources also revealed that since the iPhone 15, Apple has been switching to the type-c interface, and although it may lose billions of dollars annually, there is no way to do so.

Famous Apple analyst Guo Mingxuan predicts that Apple may release a new iPhone with a type-c interface in the second half of 2023, and other Apple products based on the Lightning interface will gradually be replaced with a type-c interface.

The mainstream mobile phone models in China have been switched, and according to CCTV Finance and Economics, the standardization of mobile phone fast charging technology is also constantly being promoted in China. Multiple mobile phone companies and chip companies are jointly participating, laying the foundation for the subsequent development of relevant national standards. In the future, China may take the lead in achieving unified charging standards in the field of fast charging.

As of now, the mainstream models launched by domestic mobile phone manufacturers have been switched to the type-c interface. Some manufacturers have stated that after learning about the new EU regulations, they plan to introduce three more automated production equipment specifically for welding type-C charging lines to improve production efficiency. Compared to Apple Lighting, type-c is more suitable for automated production of hardware.

On September 29, the China Communications Standards Association and the Telecommunications Terminal Industry Association jointly held a press conference on the results of mobile terminal integration and fast charging in Beijing, releasing the first batch of 11 fast charging authentication certificates, involving 4 terminals, 5 adapters and 2 chip products from 6 enterprises.

Industry information reveals that Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo, which have been certified this time, currently have a universal fast charging power of 40W, and are expected to increase to 65W in the second stage. Although there is still a certain distance between the universal power of 40W and the fast charging power of domestic phones, which can easily reach hundreds of watts, it is clearly ahead of the charging power of overseas brands such as Samsung and Apple, which is around 30W.

Xie Yi, Secretary General of the Telecommunications Terminal Industry Association, stated that based on the certification of 11 products with fast charging function, we will track the progress of international fast charging standardization work, timely promote the conversion of fast charging related group standards to international standards, and achieve the leadership of China's fast charging technology in global standards.

Source: China Xiaokang Network