After nearly a decade of proposals, the EU has finally passed a law regulating the sale of electronic products within its jurisdiction Flat rate for products. The law applies to a wide range of small and medium-sized portable electronic products, from tablet computers, portable audio products and e-readers to digital cameras, GPS devices and handheld video game consoles. The law will go into effect in about two years, and will require all small electronics to switch to USB-C by then. The EU claims there are many benefits to adopting a universal tariff. In addition to providing simple interoperability, they also have inherent environmental benefits — while also making consumers’ lives easier.
Switching to USB-C is not an easy solution for most players in the electronics space task, especially in the case of smartphones, since most brands have switched to the standard. That obviously doesn’t include Apple, which has struggled to maintain the decade-old charging standard (the Lightning port) on its smartphones for the foreseeable future. The company publicly opposed the EU mandate at the time of the filing, claiming that EU-authorized laws “stifle innovation.” However, now that the EU has passed laws requiring USB-C, the company has no choice but to make the switch.
Will the iPhone 15 be USB-C compatible?
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According to noted analyst Mark Gurman, despite Apple’s public opposition to the EU’s USB-C mandate, the company has been struggling to move to a widely accepted standard for some time (via Bloomberg). The question that needs to be answered now is when Apple intends to finally make the switch. Given that EU law gives manufacturers two years to switch to USB-C, Apple could delay the launch of the iPhone 16 until 2024. However, Gurman asserts that the company is unlikely to wait that long.
Because Apple is already planning a switch, we could see the iPhone 15 – scheduled for 2023 Introduced in 2018 — Became the first USB-C compliant model. Gurman claims that Apple’s next entry-level iPad model could make the switch even before that — by the end of the year. He also claims that other Apple product lines that have not yet made the switch will do so by the end of 2024. Currently, the list includes products like AirPods, Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad. Gurman also believes that many Mac accessories will switch to USB-C by the end of 2023.
Gurman asserts that while Apple has long held on to a standard, this happens with USB-C Situation is less likely. That’s because Apple is likely to make its products fully wireless in less than a decade. All that being said, it will be interesting to see how Apple pushes the EU’s mandate to switch to USB-C on its future products, as it has been opposed to the standard.
