The European Union is pushing for the implementation of a single charger for all types of smartphones currently on the market, including Apple devices. The European commission will present legislation just next month, so as to guarantee the use of a single charger in all countries belonging to the Union bloc. Apple obviously disagrees.
The European Union wants the universal charger: Apple protests
Despite Apple’s arguments against the need for a legally mandatory universal charger, the EU is developing its own legislation to establish a standard on this issue. The Union continues to argue that a common standard would reduce e-waste, while Apple says switching to this homogenization would create more.
The EU political push towards a common charger began about thirteen years ago. At that time various companies, including Apple, signed a voluntary memorandum of understanding, agreeing to work on the harmonization of these devices. However, this never really happened, which led the commission to choose to speed up the times.
The main problem of the Cupertino company is related to the use of the Lightning connector, a proprietary hardware device of the company. Obviously this is completely incompatible with the full EU, which in all likelihood will recommend the use of connectors USB-C o USB 2.0 micro-B, commonly used by other suppliers.
Apple’s objection that a common standard would generate more e-waste is only half true. On the one hand, it is clear that the transition from the old to the new device would create a surplus of waste in the short term, but it is likely that in the long term a homogeneous production of the latter would lead to a significant reduction in waste.
It is unclear how the company will move on the matter in the coming months.