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Over the weekend, the European Union (EU) applied a brand new regulation that makes the USB-C port necessary for a variety of digital gadgets together with smartphones. As of Saturday (December 28), the EU formally adopted the USB-C because the widespread normal. The mandate implies that all small and medium-sized transportable digital gadgets should be bought with USB-C charging ports within the EU. The regulation explicitly covers handheld cell phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, headsets, handheld videogame consoles, transportable audio system, e-readers, keyboards, mice, transportable navigation programs, and earbuds which might be “rechargeable with a wired cable and might function with an influence supply of as much as 100 watts.” Underneath the EU guidelines, customers will now not want a special charger for numerous digital gadgets and prospects also can decide out of receiving a brand new charger with every system they purchase. Based on Euro Information, laptop computer producers will face the identical guidelines as of 28 April 2026. In 2022, the European Parliament and member states voted overwhelmingly in favor of scrapping different charging strategies in a bid to scale back environmental waste and clear up market fragmentation.
“These guidelines are about tackling the tonnes of waste generated by discarded chargers every year and saving an estimated €250 million for EU households by eliminating pointless charger purchases every year,” Anna Cavazzini, chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Inside Market and Shopper Safety, says in a press release. A Blow for Apple’s Lighting Port The transfer was described as an enormous blow to Apple and its proprietary Lightning port. Underneath the brand new rule, any iPhones bought after December 28, 2024, together with older fashions, will need to have a USB-C port. Whereas the most recent iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 fashions have already got USB-C ports, the iPhone 14 Professional, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14, and the present iPhone SE nonetheless use the older Lightning port. Based on a report by MacRumors, all of Apple’s gadgets using Lightning ports had been pulled from the corporate’s shops in most EU international locations within the days earlier than the USB-C regulation got here into power. The iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, and third-generation iPhone SE are now not listed on Apple’s on-line retailer in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Eire, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and most different EU international locations. The gadgets have additionally been unlisted in just a few different international locations that take part within the EU’s single market, comparable to Switzerland. Picture credit: Header photograph licensed through Depositphotos.
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