Despite the decision of the European Parliament, the iPhone with Lightning connector still has a rope for a while

The approval this Tuesday by the European Parliament of USB-C as a single charger means that all new smartphones that are marketed in member countries must incorporate it regardless of the manufacturer's brand, which means that Apple will also have to adopt it on iPhone.

Since 2012, iPhone phones have integrated their own charging port called Lightning, unlike the rest of the phones of the brands that use Android, which seek to differentiate themselves more by charging technology, increasingly faster, than by the port used, with Wide adoption of USB Type-C in recent years, even at lower and lower ranges.

The obligation to incorporate a USB type C port is expected to become effective at the end of 2024, affecting smartphones regardless of the manufacturer. This means that the new iPhones that arrive on the market by then should have adopted a port of this type that, maintaining the numbering followed until now by Apple, would correspond to the iPhone 16, presented in September of that same year.

However, this regulation still requires the final approval of the Council, and after that, the governments of the European Union will have two years to incorporate these regulations into national laws. The European Parliament itself indicates in a press release that "it will not apply to products marketed before its entry into force."

Without knowing Apple's plans yet, this means that the iPhone 16 could still arrive with a Lightning port, delaying the change of connector to the next model, iPhone 17, in 2025. But it could happen sooner. The Bloomberg analyst Mark Gurman already anticipated in May that the adoption of the USB type C port would materialize in the iPhone of 2023, a forecast in which the analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also agreed.

Why Apple opposes USB-C on the iPhone (although it uses it on the iPad)

Apple has opposed charging port standardization from the start. Already in 2019, it alleged that billions of branded products and third-party accessories incorporate the Lightning port, which is also used by millions of European consumers.

Adopting the USB would mean, as he stated, generating "an unprecedented volume of electronic waste" by "making obsolete" all those products and accessories that incorporate their own charging port. The company also sells Lightning to USB cable adapters among the accessories in its ecosystem.

The approval of the single USB-C charger also affects other categories of electronic devices, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, portable game consoles, wireless speakers, electronic readers ('eReaders'), and accessories such as keyboards, mice, headphones and devices. portable navigation

The standard exempts smart watches and activity bracelets from the mandatory adoption of the USB type C port, due to their size and conditions of use. Laptops, for their part, have a longer period of time (until 2026) to adapt to the new regulations.

The objective of this regulation is to avoid, on the one hand, that users have to purchase a new charger for each electronic device they buy, and on the other, the increase in electronic waste.

The regulations also harmonize the fast charging system, so that users can charge their devices at the same speed with any compatible charger. And it includes the obligation to clearly inform and label the charging options, as well as indicate whether the product comes with a charger, in order to avoid confusion and facilitate the choice.