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Smartphones and tablets: Apple against uniform charging systems

The EU Parliament insists that manufacturers offer uniform charging systems for cell phones, tablets and other devices. At Apple, this is met with rejection – it would ultimately harm consumers, the company says.

Apple has spoken out against considerations of specifying a uniform standard for charging sockets in electrical devices such as smartphones in Europe. The company said it was convinced that this would slow down innovations and harm consumers in Europe.

The background to this is the more active efforts by the European Parliament and the EU Commission to ensure more compatibility with chargers. In mid-January, parliament had declared that manufacturers would have to offer uniform charging systems for cell phones, tablets, e-book readers and other similar devices. This should reduce electronic waste and make life easier for consumers.

Legislative proposal planned

A spokeswoman for the EU Commission said next week or early February that a study should be presented that examines the effects of a uniform charger among other things for consumers and the economy. On this basis, a legislative proposal should then be presented in the coming months. The Brussels authority believes that a mandatory approach is needed.

It had tried to clear the jungle of different charging systems at the time more than ten years ago. At the time, it was common for cell phones from different manufacturers to have incompatible charging sockets. The cables were also permanently connected to the charger – so that you automatically needed a new charger when changing providers.

After a voluntary commitment by the industry, today’s approach prevailed to have a connection socket on the chargers instead of a fixed cable. However, some political actors do not go far enough. There are considerations to also set a standard for the charging sockets on the smartphones themselves.

“Unprecedented amount of electronic waste”

Only a few formats are currently used. The micro USB format previously used by many manufacturers is on the retreat and is being replaced by the more modern USB-C. Apple sticks to its own Lightning connector for the iPhone, iPod Touch and most iPad models, but uses USB-C for some devices such as the iPad Pro or Macbook laptops. At the same time, USB-C is slowly becoming the standard for the output socket on the power supply.

Apple argues that a blanket charging standard would force consumers to replace their current Lightning cables – and would have a negative environmental impact with an “unprecedented amount of electrical waste.” In addition, the group expressed concern that neither Lightning nor USB-C would have established themselves with their improved possibilities if the technically simpler micro-USB format had been laid down as the standard at the time. “We hope that the Commission will continue to look for a solution that does not limit the ability of industry to offer consumers innovation and new technologies.”

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