On December 30, 2023, the European Commission announced a landmark decision that from 2024 onwards, the USB-C interface will become the standard charging port for all electronic devices sold within the EU. The initiative will cover a wide range of products, including handheld phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, portable speakers, gaming consoles, e-readers, earbuds, keyboards, mice, and portable navigation systems. By 2026, the regulation will also be extended to the laptop sector.
It is worth noting that before the introduction of this policy in the European Union, Apple had revealed at its new product launch conference in September 2023 that the iPhone 15 series would be fully switched to USB-C interface. However, Apple has had a long-term "tug-of-war" with the EU over the issue of a unified charging interface. As early as 2009, there were more than 30 types of charging interfaces on the market, and after the efforts of the European Commission, 14 major mobile phone manufacturers, including Apple, adjusted the number of charging interfaces to gradually reduce the number of charging interfaces to USB Type-C, Lightning and Micro-USB.
According to the EU's 2019 research report, among the chargers on the market that year, the Micro-USB interface accounted for half of the country, the USB Type-C interface accounted for 29%, and the Lightning interface used by Apple's iPhone occupied 21% of the market share.
In order to solve the inconvenience and waste of resources caused by the lack of uniformity of charging interfaces, the European Commission officially proposed a bill in September 2021, requiring all electronics manufacturers to convert charging interfaces to the USB Type-C standard during a two-year transition period to achieve universal charging across brands and devices. Despite Apple's concerns that mandatory regulations could stifle innovation and harm consumers, the bill has not been deterred by Apple's opposition.
On October 4, 2022, the European Parliament passed the relevant bill with an overwhelming vote (602 votes in favor, 13 votes against, and 8 abstentions), which clearly stipulates that from the end of 2024, all new portable smart devices such as mobile phones and tablets must use USB Type-C as the charging interface, and laptops need to implement this standard from 2026.
In fact, it has long been anticipated within the industry that the USB-C interface will dominate the market, and as the technology evolves, its use is becoming more widespread and the cost is gradually decreasing. China Business Daily reported earlier that the relevant employees of USB-C manufacturers Shenzhen Xianying Technology and Shenzhen DEREN Electronics respectively said that at present, USB-C interface has become the mainstream charging solution for 3C equipment, and is rapidly expanding to the field of non-3C products, and due to the maturity of technology, manufacturing costs have decreased.
Major General Ding, an industry observer, pointed out that although the unified charging interface has obvious advantages in saving resources and facilitating users, and the technical difficulty is not large, it is difficult to quickly achieve comprehensive unification only through administrative means due to the complex commercial interests involved behind it. Today, this major decision of the European Union has undoubtedly set a new industry benchmark on a global scale.