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EU Technology

EU Sets December 28, 2024, Deadline For All New Phones To Use USB-C for Wired Charging (theverge.com) 113

Posted by msmash from the set-in-stone dept.
We finally have a final official deadline for when new phones sold in the European Union -- including future iPhones -- will have to use USB-C for wired charging: December 28th, 2024. From a report: That's because the EU's new USB-C legislation has just been published in the bloc's Official Journal, making it formally binding. Now we know the rules will officially enter into force in 20 days' time, and individual EU member states will then have a maximum of 24 months to apply them as national law. The date is more or less in line with previous forecasts from politicians, but until now, the exact date has remained vague given the number of stages each piece of EU legislation has to go through. When lawmakers reached an initial agreement on the legislation in June, they announced it would be applicable in "autumn 2024," but in October, a press release said the rules would apply "by the end of 2024."
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EU Sets December 28, 2024, Deadline For All New Phones To Use USB-C for Wired Charging More

EU Sets December 28, 2024, Deadline For All New Phones To Use USB-C for Wired Charging

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  • Decent for being a statutory approach (Score:5, Informative)

    by Martin Blank ( 154261 ) on Thursday December 08, 2022 @01:39PM (#63113830) Homepage Journal

    Here's the text of the law [europa.eu] for those interested in perusing it. At first glance, it seems like it's just taking existing industry adoption and direction and encoding it so that certain companies that want to do things their way have to take a more expensive path. There's nothing stopping a company from developing a new connector. They just have to include a USB-C connector, too.

    The law also notes that this is a consensus standard, and it seems to leave open the possibility of adopting new connectors if industry (rather than a single company) wants to adopt it. If there's a USB-D, there's little stopping them from amending the law to allow use of that. It does seem unlikely, though, since we can now, with the proper cables, handle 240W (enough to power a workstation notebook) and/or speeds of at least 120 Gbps with work proceeding on higher power and faster speeds. I'd love to see someone come up with a mag connector that can do that, but absent that, I'll happily take USB-C on every device.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kwerle ( 39371 )

      Haha :-)

      Did I just hear you say "240W (enough to power a workstation notebook) and/or speeds of at least 120 Gbps" should be enough for anyone?

      • No, you didn't. It covers what's out there now, and future requirements will be covered by work that is ongoing for USB-4-Gen3.12321-Mark2-version12.

        • "USB-4-Gen3.12321-Mark2-version12"

          Even when trying to mock the USB naming standards, it sounds like the confusing bullshit they came up with. And then they rename things that are already out. Fucking morans.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Seems unlikely that the connector will change though. USB C has enough pins and versatility to handle pretty much anything, and the data rate will keep increasing. Any arbitrary protocol can be packetized and sent over it.

          The only potential issue is if they want more than 240W, but by that point you will need a bigger connector than USB is ever likely to provide, and thus you can use whatever you like.

          Are there any other reasons to switch connectors that you can think of? I suppose if we want even flatter p

          • We thought they'd need a new connector for more than a few dozen watts and they figured out how to do 240W.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              240W is the limit of what is easily available. Basically the cable and connector are rated for 5A, so the only way to increase the power is to increase the voltage. 240W requires 48V, and 50V is where regulatory issues start to come in because the voltage reaches a dangerous level.

              • The regulatory bit is interesting. I didn't know that. Another thing to go research for no particular reason. Thanks!

      • My big fat honkin' Dell Precision 'laptop' uses two USB-C connectors next to each other to charge at full rate. But you can still run and charge more slowly from 1. It does have the conventional round power-only charge connection on the back, but I almost never use it.
      • The OP forgot 640k

    • Not sure if any existing USB-C magnetic connectors support the max speed and power, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if some do. I mean, there's nothing magic about the connectors - it all comes down to wire thickness (for amperage) and length tolerances (for signal speeds). The connector itself typically offers orders of magnitude greater contact area than the cross section of the wires it's connected to - as long as it makes a solid connection without introducing length discrepancies or EMF chokes t

      • My problem with these magnetic connectors is that they're round, so completely pointless for thinner devices.

        • Mine aren't - they're about the same size and shape as a the plastic end for a typical USB-C cable. Only the thinnest devices are narrower.

          There's lots of designs out there with different strengths and weaknesses - the round ones are nice because they're omni-directional, I think some even act as a swivel joint. But I wanted the slim profile.

      • Can you pass 240W over a magnetic connector? It seems like the contact points wouldn't be guaranteed like they are on a M-F connector.

        • No idea. But like I said, the contact points are likely MUCH larger than cross section of the wire itself, so they shouldn't be the choke point. I would think the big concern would be if intermittent connection (e.g. from jostling) would cause arcing/sparking that erodes the contacts over time.

          I'm not sure what voltage 240W charging uses, but it's probably pretty high to keep the amperage low enough for those tiny wires to handle.

          But there's very few things that actually pull anywhere near 240W - that'd h

          • I just looked it up, and 240W USB-C is 48V and 5A.

            I have a Dell Precision notebook, and it has a 240W power brick. A friend used to have an Alienware gaming notebook, and I think it was even bigger. (We used to joke that the battery was just there to keep it on while moving it to a different outlet because the battery life even without gaming sucked.)

    • The law also notes that this is a consensus standard, and it seems to leave open the possibility of adopting new connectors if industry (rather than a single company) wants to adopt it

      Not only that. The law mandates a review every 5 years of not only if the chosen connector is still suitable, but also if the list of included devices still makes sense or need to be amended.

      I.e. we may see this expanded to wireless chargers, other devices, or new connectors adopted in the future.

    • The law only specifies the physical connector. It doesnâ(TM)t seem to preclude companies from developing proprietary cables such as:
      Qualcomm Quick Charge (QC)
      MediaTek Pump Express
      Samsung Adaptive Fast Charging
      Oppo Super VOOC Flash Charge, are also known as Dash Charge or Warp Charge on OnePlus devices and Dart Charge on Realme devices
      Huawei SuperCharge
      Anker PowerIQ
      Google fast charging
      Motorola TurboPower

  • ... which is ditch the charging port entirely and use wireless charging only.

    Hopefully by that time, a trim update for my car will be available that will support wireless carplay.

    • I dunno. Considering how insufferably long the automobile companies dragged their heels on deploying CarPlay in the first place; and how they've made pretty much made no movement at all towards adopting multidisplay CarPlay 2 since WWDC, I would wager they will continue to insufferably and contemptibly drag their heels on any future updates and integrations as well.

      For my part, I would place more hope on Apple upgrading MagSafe so that it can handle CarPlay (or other) data connections wirelessly down the s

    • Not likely for a few gens of iPhones. One apple exec recently said the USB-C port in the iPhone is coming. Additionally, the port is extremely useful transferring large files created with 4k videos, wireless is just too slow right now.
    • Wireless Carplay requires a stereo with Wifi built in. Those are already available. The Wifi car stereo I bought works for Android Auto with no cable, I haven't tried it yet with Apple Carplay because I'm not an Apple fanboi that stands in line to buy the latest iPhone.
      • For a lot of cars it's a fairly big and expensive job to replace the stereo due to various integrations to other car systems, and a car has a fairly long life-time, so there is a good chance of hurting sales of new devices if the port isn't there.
        • Agreed; I won't even consider replacing the stock stereo in my Toyota Prius or RAV4 with an aftermarket unit, because so much of the car's functionality is integrated into the stereo. But the original Bose sound system in my 2011 Mazda Miata sucked, so I bought an aftermarket replacement... then discovered it was the amplifier hidden behind the seat that went bad, not the stereo itself :-(

    • ... which is ditch the charging port entirely and use wireless charging only.

      You say that about a company that already said they will put USB-C connectors on the upcoming iPhone despite that phone not being covered by the law.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mark-t ( 151149 )

        I'll believe that when I see it.

        They had plenty of time to switch to USB-C for the 14, but they didn't.

  • If they're gonna do this for phones, I wish they'd also do it for Kindles and the like.

    • It applies to radio devices that use a fixed or replaceable rechargeable battery. While there are referenced to other docs, this would seem to include Kindles as well.

      • No. It applies to very specific devices, not all radio devices using batteries. In fact it applies to several non radio devices as well including cameras and portable navigation equipment.

        e-readers are listed though. Read Annex 1a. It's not a complicated piece of legislation. https://data.consilium.europa.... [europa.eu]

    • Don't Kindles already use USB charging? Mine are Micro-USB.

      • This law isn't about moving to "USB" - it's specifically about requiring devices to use the USB-C form factor for wired charging. I'd like to see Kindles included in this USB-C connector mandate.

        Right now at my house we've got rechargeable devices that need Lightning cables, USB-C, Micro USB, even a couple that use Mini USB! Not to mention a few other proprietary chargers. It's ridiculous.

    • If they're gonna do this for phones, I wish they'd also do it for Kindles and the like.

      e-readers are specifically listed in Annex 1a
      https://data.consilium.europa.... [europa.eu]

  • Assuming Apple releases an iPhone next year you can bet it will use the lightning connector.
    • I doubt it (or they will loose all EU market...)
      • It doesn't go into effect until 2024. If they release a phone in 2023 they will do what's "best for society and the environment" by using the lightening connector one last time. ;)
        • Or they ship a MagSafe charger (which uses USB-C) with every iPhone. A lightning port which can also charge is incidental at that point. Of course that would preclude them from selling you a $40 MagSafe charger, but since it probably costs them a whole dollar to make, it doesn't really cost them much beyond the opportunity of selling one later. It may be less expensive than moving away from lightning ports depending on the lead times for their hardware.

    • Assuming Apple releases an iPhone next year you can bet it will use the lightning connector.

      They already confirmed it will come with USB-C.

  • It (the different charging standards) causes me problems at least monthly: this week, a neighbor bring to me a laptop that she have forgot the charger at a friends house...
    • I had a friend bring a laptop recently but she forgot the charger. No problem. The laptop has a USB-C port. Apparently it's a laptop with a USB-C port but that port can't charge the laptop. SMH
      • Yeap: I (wrongly) assumed that it is about laptops to (but, apparently, is only for phones... Yet?)

        • No, laptops up to 100W are covered. More powerful ones can continue to use whatever crap they want, but most already include the capability, albeit limited to 100 or 65 W for now.

          • To not accept a 60W USB-C charge on a laptop is insane. That we need legislation for this is awful. Most airplane seats only provide around 100W. If it wasn't for the ability to use a 60W USB-C charge, those devices would be nearly worthless while on the plane. Even for high power machines, 60W will extend the battery life significantly and on really long flights, you can hibernate the machine and let it recharge while you sleep. If you already have a USB-C port, enabling charging has to cost at total

  • Ship every iPhone with a Lightning --> USB-C dongle plugged into the phone.

    It's the user's business if they want to unplug it or not. It shipped as part of the phone that happened to be removable for servicing.

    • I've long suggested that Apple should just stick to its guns and pull the iPhone out of the EU market, creating a new opportunity for illicit imports.

      • I've long suggested that Apple should just stick to its guns and pull the iPhone out of the EU market, creating a new opportunity for illicit imports.

        I think this is a great idea, and if I had as much money as Apple I would even go so far as to fund the smuggling and sales (via Apple branded black-market popup shops) in countries that tried to force Apple to change hardware. That way Apple would also not have to pay any EU VAT either... all sales pure profit. Well, except for whatever tax there is in the

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        And do without a major part of their revenue? Fat chance.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      As usual, you are completely clueless.

    • Ship every iPhone with a Lightning --> USB-C dongle plugged into the phone.

      It's the user's business if they want to unplug it or not. It shipped as part of the phone that happened to be removable for servicing.

      Nope. The connector needs to be on the device itself.

      Next time you think you have a clever workaround it helps to have at least skim read the thing you claim to have a workaround for.
      But if you did that you'd cease being our resident idiot and we'd all miss the SuperKendall we love calling out.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nashv ( 1479253 )

        If I know Apple, they will probably make a USB-C port on the phone, and then sell a USB-C to Lightning adapter to all their users can use the Lightning chargers because that's the one that has the Apple logo on it.

      • Nope. The connector needs to be on the device itself.

        It is on the device. It's part of the device. As stated, that port is removable so the user can replace the USB-C port if it becomes damaged, already an improvement over every phone ever made. You can remove a phone screen too, it's part of the device.

  • What will all the poor iPhone users looking for an "iPhone charger" roaming offices worldwide do now?! They'll get so confused. Like in the past when they were confronted with a windows pointer and it's complex left and right click buttons. Imagine always being able to find a charger by virtue of having a USB-C cable...it almost makes having slow charging acceptable.

    • Wow, you go girl.

      While we're at it, let's cap EV charging at 5amps so it's, you know, standard.

      Can't have anything confusing like a 3rd pedal, right?

      Nothing was gained AND you get to push 20 year old straw men. woooo you.

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