Apple says it will comply with the new regulations of EU and replace the Lightning port on iPhone with USB-C.
"Obviously we will have to comply, we have no choice," Apple's chief marketing officer Greg Joswiak told of the EU's forced Apple smartphones to use the connection standard. However, he declined to say whether iPhones sold outside Europe will continue to use the Lightning port.
According to Bloomberg and analyst Mingchi Kuo , Apple is expected to start turning to USB-C from the next 15-year iPhone. EU regulations require all phones and tablets to use USB-C “by Fall 2024.” The launch of the universal charger is one of the efforts made by Europe to reduce electronic waste and make users' lives more convenient. Legislators hope that phones and other electronic devices don’t need to be sold with chargers because buyers already have common accessories at home. The EU estimates that the new regulations can save consumers 250 million euros a year, reducing about 11,000 tons of electronic waste.
The above provisions have the greatest impact on Apple, as the iPhone still uses the proprietary Lightning charging port instead of USB-C. In 2021, Apple sold 241 million iPhones worldwide, of which 56 million were in Europe.
accepts the new rules, but Apple representatives also said the company was not satisfied when legally forced to change specifications. Joswiak said Apple has been following its own path, trusting its engineers, rather than being forced by lawmakers to adopt hardware standards. He also listed the company's ignoring the previous microUSB standard and following its own standards, and bringing many benefits to users in terms of experience.
"The fact that the charger and data cable are separated from each other actually solves the standardization problem. Converting an iPhone from Lightning to USB-C does cause a lot of waste of electronics," explains Joswiak. Currently, iPhone or Android phones only come with one USB-C terminal and a charging cable for Lightning or USB-C terminal. Most brands are already using chargers with USB-C output, including Apple.
In addition to iPhone, Apple also has many other devices that use Lightning interfaces, such as AirPods 3, AirPods Pro 2, Magic Mouse... According to The Verge, the Lightning cable that comes with Apple devices is often complained because it breaks quickly. At the same time, third-party cables need to comply with the standards and new MFi chips can be used stably.
