USB-C laws go into effect, forcing Apple to retire these iPhones early

If you’ve been paying attention to technology for a year or two, you know how painful it can be to charge your electronic devices. Electronic devices come in all shapes and sizes, and each device has its own unique and often proprietary charger. Every electronic device requires a specific charger, and this also applies to cell phones and even smartphones. The world finally moved to mini-USB, micro-USB and USB-Cbut companies like Apple are holding us back with their stubborn use of Lightning ports. But with EU legislation now in force, we are finally really moving towards USB-C everything.

The EU’s Universal Charger Directive is one of the most important driving forces for the standardization of charging ports in the EU and even globally. Many companies voluntarily adopted USB-C, but the legislation created enough pressure to force holdouts like Apple to acknowledge and adopt USB-C on their devices.

The EU Universal Charger Directive was approved by the European Council in October 2022. Two days ago, that is December 28, 2024the rule comes into effect for mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, headsets, video game consoles, portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems and earbuds sold in the EU.

This means that all new devices in the above categories must now support USB-C charging, otherwise they will not be allowed to be sold in the EU.

We’re already seeing the impact of this, with companies like Apple no longer allowed to sell the Lightning-equipped iPhone 14 and iPhone SE in the EU, thereby retiring them early in the region. Thankfully, Apple switched to USB-C in the iPhone 15 series, so newer iPhones won’t be affected.

With a universal charger, residents of the EU (and even globally) can gain the following benefits:

• This greatly improves consumer convenience as many devices can be charged via USB-C regardless of brand.
• Since the charger is separate from the device, you can save even more money. However, many companies absorb profits to fight inflation rather than passing the benefits on to consumers. So the end result is a slowdown in price increases.
• Reduce e-waste as rules encourage reuse of chargers and discourage discarding unused chargers, thereby reducing environmental footprint.

While I did say we’ve reached a true state of “USB-C everything,” there’s still room for improvement. The legislation itself gives laptop manufacturers room to wait until April 28, 2026adding USB-C as a charging option on laptops sold in the EU. Beyond that, there are several other ways the EU can achieve further harmonization, such as standardizing wall sockets in the region to save us all from the tyranny of travel adapters.