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All phones will be required to have USB-C charging ports by 2024

Thanks to the European Union, all phones (yes, that includes you Apple) will be forced to use USB-C charging ports.

By late 2024, most phones, tablets, and cameras will be required to use USB-C charging ports after the European Union (EU) voted to mandate a new ‘industry standard’ charging cable.

According to the EU, the move is an effort to reduce electronic waste, with charging cables contributing to thousands of tonnes of landfill.

USB-C
Credit: Lucian Alexe/Unsplash

The new regulation will apply to “all small and medium-sized portable electronic devices,” a categorisation that extends to mobile phones, tablets, cameras, keyboards, speakers, headphones, headsets, and earbuds.

Laptops will also have to meet the requirements within 40 months after the 2024 rollout.

Apple is expected to take the biggest hit from the move, as their trademark ‘lightning’ cable will effectively become obsolete.

In a statement, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said, “The deal we struck this morning will bring around 250 million euros ($267m) of savings to consumers.”

“It will also allow new technologies such as wireless charging to emerge and to mature without letting innovation to become source of market fragmentation and consumer inconvenience,” he predicted.

Alex Agius Saliba, a spokesperson for the European parliament noted, “European consumers were long frustrated with multiple chargers piling up with every new device. Now they will be able to use a single charger for all their portable electronics.”

It’s such a simple concept, yet living a world where you can charge all your devices with one cable seems oddly utopian.