EU votes to compel cellphone companies to employ the same charger

The European Parliament has approved plans to force phone companies to come together to employ a single charger for their products.

Everyone has been dreaming of having just one little Lightning cable, instead, you find Micro USBs, Mini USBs, aux cords etc.

As per the current European Union plans, companies will be required to adopt USB-C ports across products thereby allowing for devices to be more interoperable, healthier competition among brands, as well as helping the environment.

Voting on the proposal, MEPs on the parliament’s influential Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection came in 43 votes in favour with just two against, The Independent reports.

As part of the vote, they also urged the European Commission to look towards a common interoperability standard on the wireless charger, an advance that’s becoming increasingly popular but is similarly divided across brands.

While a number of companies have already started using USB-Cs more extensively, including Sony with the PlayStation 5, the biggest impact will be seen with Apple, which has long-distributed its own charging technology, with the exception of new MacBooks.

If enforced, these rules would technically only apply to countries within the European Union. However, given the impact it’d have on production lines and the likes of Apple already vowing to reduce waste by removing chargers from phone boxes, it’d be unsurprising to see other countries conform.

Source: Agencies