On October 4th local time, the European Parliament passed a bill with an overwhelming advantage, requiring the unification of charging interfaces for portable smart electronic devices such as mobile phones.
On the same day, the European Parliament passed the bill on the unified charging interface of portable smart devices with 602 votes in favor, 13 votes against and 8 abstentions. The bill stipulates that starting from the end of 2024, all new portable smart devices such as mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, portable navigation systems, etc. must use the charging interface of USB Type-C. Starting from 2026, USB Type-C will also become the standard interface for laptop chargers. Why is the small charging interface of
? Why is Europe unified from the legislative level? Will the change in charging interface have an impact on the related industrial chains?
Source: European Parliament website
must be both environmentally friendly and better and faster
According to CCTV Finance, for the new bill, European Parliament member Alex Saliba explained this: We use this one to replace this pile of chargers. The simplest solution is often the best and most practical. Such a simple solution will reduce thousands of tons of electronic waste every year and promote the reuse of old electronic products.
"Europe's move is mainly to consider environmental protection factors. The unified interface can reduce the generation of electronic waste and reduce resource waste. If the interface models are different, a device must be equipped with a wire, and a new device will be replaced in a few years, so that more and more waste will be added." Dong Xueying, an insider in the consumer electronics field, told Tianmu News reporters.
Dong Xueying introduced that better and faster charging interfaces have always been the general trend. Type-C's charging transmission speed, signal simulation and other aspects are stronger than Apple 's Lightning interface, which will also force enterprises to transform into Type-C or develop better interfaces.
"Unified interface can also provide convenience to consumers, reduce consumption costs and save the hassle of carrying several lines when going out. From a global trend, the standards of mobile phone interfaces are also gradually unified. At present, most Android phones use Type-C interfaces. Among the mainstream products, only Apple has other interfaces." Zhang Dexin, executive director of the Institute of Cultural Tourism Innovation and Entrepreneurship, told Tianmu News reporters.
EU competition affairs director Margaret Westagher pointed out that the new regulation is expected to save at least 200 million euros per year, or approximately RMB 1.4 billion, reducing the piles of outdated chargers.
An Guangyong, an expert member of the Credit Management Committee of the All-China Mergers and Acquisition Association, told Tianmu News reporters that unifying interface standards has always been the common aspiration of the entire industry. Whether from the user level or the supply level, it can achieve a win-win model. Mobile phones and tablets currently have the most frequently used areas, and the ability to unified charging interfaces will bring great promotion effects to the entire society.
"From the user's perspective, the unified interface can greatly enhance the interchangeability and convenience of its products. From a social perspective, this can indirectly greatly promote data exchange between different brands, making the data flow in the entire society more frequent, and in disguisedly promote the development of big data." An Guangyong said.
Photo source: Xinhua News Agency
Transformation pain is inevitable "forced" enterprises to innovate
"Environmental Protection Pioneer" Europe's tough measures have caused heated discussions around the world: Will mandatory unified interfaces for all smart device brands have an impact on the related industrial chains?
Reuters reported that Apple in the United States is expected to be one of the most affected companies. The new regulations will force it to abandon the Lightning interface it is currently using and use the USB Type-C interface that a large number of competitors have been widely used. However, the new EU regulations may also have a positive impact on Apple , which may push consumers to purchase new Apple products using USB Type-C interface.
Dong Xueying introduced that in the past, the production of Type-C interface data cables had to be authorized by Apple before suppliers could produce exclusively. If the unified interface is unified, enterprises that make a living by producing Apple data cables will be hit by a relatively big impact. The Android camp is very open, with basically interoperable data cables and sufficient market supply.
"If you change the data cable, it may cause losses to Apple."Dong Xueying said that because of a data cable, it is unrealistic to give up the entire European market. Because the comprehensive performance of the Lightning interface is not as good as Type-C, it may slowly convert to Type-C in the future, or develop a new data transmission line.
In fact, EU began to promote the unified portable smart device charging interface for many years ago, but Apple did not buy it. The bill was discussed as early as 2018, but failed to become a law because Apple believed that the bill would cause waste and stifle innovation. In the following five years, Apple and the EU repeatedly tug-of-war until this year reached an agreement. h Chen Jia, an independent international strategy researcher at tml1
, told Tianmu News that in recent years, Apple has grown against the trend in the face of the overall shrinking of the global mobile phone market. In 2021, iPhone sold 241 million units worldwide, about 56 million units in the EU market. It is roughly estimated that by the time the bill is implemented in 2024, hundreds of millions of Apple users in the EU will be forced to purchase transfer devices and abandon the original lighting interface devices. The new regulations of
are also "forced" Apple to innovate. "In the future, if Apple's new products not only change the interface mode, but also update the charging efficiency, consumers will still pay. In fact, Apple has completed environmentally friendly upgrades in the past five years, consolidating its global market advantage. For example, Apple's previous generation of mobile phones cancelled the configuration of chargers and increased environmental protection efforts in the production and packaging field. "Chen Jia said. The "pain" of transformation of
is inevitable, but it is not completely unhealthy for enterprises. An Guangyong said that from the perspective of suppliers, enterprises can also simplify the non-core parts of peripheral devices of mobile phones and tablets (such as data cables, USB and other storage devices, etc.) (i.e., production of various different interfaces) and devote more energy to the core fields.
