Posted on 10/04/2022 11:56:45 PM PDT by Cronos
The EU parliament on Tuesday passed a new law requiring USB-C to be the single charger standard for all new smartphones, tablets and cameras from late 2024.
The measure, which EU lawmakers adopted with a vote 602 in favour, 13 against, will — in Europe at least — push Apple to drop its outdated Lightning port on its iPhones for the USB-C one already used by many of its competitors. Makers of laptops will have extra time, from early 2026, to also follow suit.
EU policymakers say the single charger rule will simplify the life of Europeans, reduce the mountain of obsolete chargers and reduce costs for consumers.
It is expected to save at least 200 million euros ($195m) per year and cut more than a thousand tonnes of EU electronic waste every year, the bloc’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager said.
The EU move is expected to ripple around the world.
The European Union’s 27 countries are home to 450 million people who count among the world’s wealthiest consumers. Regulatory changes in the bloc often set global industry norms in what is known as the Brussels Effect.
“Today is a great day for consumers, a great day for our environment,” Maltese MEP Alex Agius Saliba, the European Parliament’s pointman on the issue, said.
“After more than a decade, the single charger for multiple electronic devices will finally become a reality for Europe and hopefully we can also inspire the rest of the world,” he said.
Apple is already using USB-C for iPads. It won’t be much of a change.
I certainly appreciate being able to use the same charger with multiple devices, but I guess I have a problem with bureaucrats mandating a standard. Such an approach typically stymies innovation. Why not just let the free market work this out?
All of the elderly Europeans who are going to freeze to death this winter because there isn’t enough heating fuel will die happy knowing that their next of kin doesn’t have to keep multiple charging cables in their backpacks as they flee to Southern European hostels.
Because the free market saud USB and Apple said “yeah but we can charge 5x as much for lightning cables and ports and the fanboys will pay.”
I had FireWire drives that spanked USB so for performance reasons yes choice is good but for charging your car or phone, you really don’t get any benefit from vendor lock-in.
I know someone with a Tesla who has 12 different apps for forecourt and car park charging, all expect some minimum credit or top-up so she’s got maybe 500 dollars spread across all the apps.
Our neighbor has a phev with bog standard charging and they have one app. And a standard charger at home.
There is more than enough heating fuel for households.
Poland, France, Italy etc - all except Germany and Bulgaria - are off Russian gas.
Germany got 40% before Feb and now about 10% from Russia - and is going to shift their storage for households and away from industry.
So Germany industry will have higher costs or will stop, but no one is going to freeze
What right do they have to decree this?
Seems benign enough, but it’s not. It’s the opposite.
And the iPhone 14pro. My laptop is USB-C too. Micro USB was a terrible connector, lightning was good for it’s day, but USB-C is great. Most flagship Android phones have had it for a while.
The “social market economy” hates the free market, that’s why.
Technically, you might be right though I can guarantee that millions of people in Europe will have to choose between 1) Freezing 2)Eating less 3) Going utterly broke by paying utility bills that have at least more than doubled and in some cases quintupled.
I live in Southern Europe. My electric bill has tripled compared to a year ago. I have partially offset set that cost by designing and installing a solar electric system myself.
Most people cannot do that themselves nor can they afford such a system. It's going to get extremely ugly in Europe this winter, especially up north. That's the price one pays when their "leaders" believe in magic, electricity-producing unicorns and "pregnant" "men."
True,the free market worked with VCR vs Betamax and DVD vs Blue Ray
We have some good friends who have been living in the south of France for the last couple years. I really need to find out what they’re seeing.
So Natural gas accounts for 15.3% of Germany's energy usage
and if you look at December 2021 the sources of NG by country was
Note that it was in December, now it is lower
But even if you assume Russia's share was the same - so 1/3rd of 15.3% i.e. 5.1% of Germany's energy source is from Russia
The Germany economy will have higher energy costs, but no, no one is going to freeze
Definitely for eating less - but those who can't pay will get subsidies from the government
I live in Poland - the south-east right next to the border with Ukraine. Moved here a year ago (yeah, great timing!) and I see those massive increases.
I don't know about Germany, but here in Poland our politicos haven't wasted time on those matters you wrote about (they've wasted time on other stuff)
This year maybe. But with industry greatly slowed or stopped, the economic destruction will be immense and the government will have no recourse except issuing 'helicopter money' for people with no work so they can simply survive.
The missing energy will not be substantially replaced next year or the year after. Other EU countries in the same boat will be issuing 'survival' euros to their people. Hyperinflation will drive the euro into oblivion and the EU with it. The US cannot save the day, we are already buried in debt and technically insolvent.
Barring a miraculous event, the EU cannot survive, much less win, economic war with Russia. A year or two from now EU countries may be so economically crippled that they are not able to maintain a credible conventional deterrent; NATO will be impotent if not officially disbanded. Presumably Russia will dominate the region.
Stupid wars have consequences.
LOL!
This kind of comment is why FR is still a great read.
I don’t want the Euroboobs to freeze to death but I must admit the thought of them suffering a bit doesn’t exactly break my heart. It feels like karmic payback for the way they treated my president, Donald J. Trump.
Industry will be slowed - but not economic “destruction” - rather an economic hit.
The missing energy can be easily replaced if the German idiots bring back their coal plants and nuclear power plants.
And nope - we won’t be issuing “survival euros” - you do realize that a lot of EU countries don’t have the euro, right?
The EU is winning the economic war with Russia - 37% of Russia’s economy is directly dependent on trade with the EU - and if you include indirectly dependent, then that is closer to 72%. In contrast Russia accounts for 5% of all the EU countries trade combined.
Lightning was tons better than the miserable mini and micro USB connectors. I was never particularly bothered by paying more for a superior product.
USB C is a good connector, probably even better than Lightning since it shrouds the pins. Making it the standard isn’t a bad idea except we now have not just vendor lock-in but government lock-in. The tradeoff is the market might not innovate an even better connector now. It’s a potential missed opportunity but of course opportunity costs are always somewhat hidden.
“Stupid wars have consequences.”
Yes and this will result in the shattering of the Russian federation
Living in Europe for the past 20-odd years....I have a box of 15-odd charger cables, for all the various electronic items I’ve bought. I’m not whining about the EU mandate...this should have been done a decade ago. If they hadn’t mandated it...I would have added another five or six by 2030.
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