[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I am not sure how big a problem it really is.

Not a big problem, but a big relief for people like me if we have a common charger.

I'm using 2 phones, one with Micro USB and other is Apple lightening. My wife's phone is C-type, which is the first C-type in our family. When we got it, I had to buy 5 more C-type USB cables (1 that came with the phone will be used at our home, 3 for 3 cars, 1 at my hometown and 1 at my in-laws place) just to make sure we have the resource at every possible destination even if we forget to carry one.

[TejasKinger]

Two or three years ago, I was what you'd call a gadget hoarder. All of these devices came with the standard Micro-USB Type B charger cables.

Given that these devices used the same type of charger cables, I never bothered using their charging cables out of the box. I used one or two cables common cables while the rest remained intact in their packaging. I lived alone, lived right next to my office and my commute was mostly walking or by public transport which meant that this arrangement suited me just fine.

Fast forward to today where my needs have changed. I drive to work and live a reasonable distance away from work. This means keeping charging cables at home, in the workplace and in the car. But my phone now sports a Type C charger.

So, I put my old charging cables to good use with a simple workaround. A couple of cheap USB type B to type C convertors bought from AliExpress. While they don't support fast charging, they get the job done just fine. And I've managed to extend the life of some perfectly good cables.

[Rocketscience]

Well, this is being widely misunderstood, they are talking about just the charger and not the connectivity cables, the charger itself be it Apple or any Android manufacturer mostly comes with a USB A port on it so it is indeed, practically universal.

What they perhaps want is a single standard for all the charging in all the devices, like One plus uses a different charging system than Samsung and Google uses a different one, so while all their chargers can be interchanged (They all support USB C cables too) they won't charge it at their optimal speed, my bet is on USB PD since last i checked both Apple and Google support it on their phones and some laptops are using it too, it supports up to 100w so that if implemented universally it would indeed be just one charger in your house for everything, your laptop, smartphone, smartwatch, bluetooth earbuds etc.

And there are just 2 charging cables in the market right now, USB C and Lightning and its just a matter of time when Apple switches to the former along with some low end android manufacturers, anyways that is not as big a deal as a single Charging standard.

[frewper]

We should not have laws like these for a very simple reason. We are eliminating technical competition. It also means that if a company wants to something very innovative in the charger side will not be allowed to so. Which is wrong. If the govt is thinking of reducing e-waste, then may they can just ask manufactures not to ship chargers with the phone. Let the customer buy them separately. Costs may not fluctuate drastically because of this. I have 4 charges of my previous phones lying unused at home. Still whenever I buy a new phone, i will use the new one, and retire the old one.
If I didn't get a new charger with the new phone, I would have just used the old one.

[GeeTee TSI]

Pin design aside, the charging technology (or wattage) is another confusing area. Try charging a Pixel using a USB C to USB A cable and see if it fast charges - it doesn't

Coming to powerbanks and also car chargers, unless there is PD (3A) output port which can take a USB C (and the phone supports it), no other option fast charges my phone although it 'charges' it all right.

Speed of charging on a wireless charging pad too boils down to compatibility and capacity else it just 'charges' a phone.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by frewper

We should not have laws like these for a very simple reason. We are eliminating technical competition. It also means that if a company wants to something very innovative in the charger side will not be allowed to so. Which is wrong.

I think it was one of those countries in the Far East - Thailand / Indonesia which mandated MicroUSB on mobiles some years back. Till then,, it was a nightmare. I guess I have a bunch of old cables lying around somewhere which, if donated to a crow to make a cosy home, will make it happy.

I believe there is a design patent on Apple's connector, making it inaccessible to other manufacturers. So, the innovation is a legal pain anyway.

Also, such cosmetic innovations result in low volume manufacture. Pushes up prices.

[rshnvjy]

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding regarding this decision by the EU. As a long time tech enthusiast, I hope the below link would provide more clarity to the uninitiated.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/17/2...ing-cable-port

[turbowhistle]

Originally Posted by rshnvjy

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding regarding this decision by the EU. As a long time tech enthusiast, I hope the below link would provide more clarity to the uninitiated.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/17/2...ing-cable-port

+1 to this, it's really funny how everyone is jumping guns on Apple.

The easiest solution will be the ability to opt out of wall charger when buying a new device.
We have few spare apple chargers which are still in box and and I would happily opt for just buying the phones even at the same cost.

[rshnvjy]

Originally Posted by turbowhistle

+1 to this, it's really funny how everyone is jumping guns on Apple.

I think we don't give Apple enough credit for standardising a lot of data protocols we take for granted today. In the late 90s when PCs had a lot of different types of massive serial ports and connectors for keyboards and PS/2 mice, Apple put USB (now known as USB-A) ports on their first iMac leading to sweeping changes in the industry and making USB the de facto standard for any kind of computer peripheral.

Similarly, they've helped the mass adoption of USB-C by making it the only port on their latest laptops and iPads while retaining the Lightning port on their phones for legacy support of devices such as docks and any MFi (Made for iPhone) certified accessories. If they switched to USB-C for iPhones overnight, all these accessories would be rendered useless..

The EU legislation talks about standardising the port on the power supply adapter side. Ideally, this would be USB-C for all devices and you could just use different cables depending on the device. Considering the popularity of USB-C for today's and future releases, you would only need to carry around cables with one end having a USB-C connector. All of them would plug into any adapter or public charging station as they all would have USB-C female ports rather than now where I have to carry around a USB-A cable for my car and for use at shopping malls and USB-C at home.

It's certainly easier to carry around one cable for each device than carrying around multiple cables for different adapters.

Lets not forget that a huge chunk of laptop makers haven't even fully moved to USB-C for power supply and still use antiquated circular co-axial power cables for their chargers. The EU push would definitely help them get over the fence on this matter.

[naveenroy]

All for it. Hammer these corporations that run their own countries.

Originally Posted by civic-sense

Sorry, it tramples upon freedom.

I do not know why there are fans for nanny states who tells us what we should do and not do. Govts should keep its heads out of businesses.

Haha. Sorry but the conservatives here would love your ideas.

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Haha. Sorry but the conservatives here would love your ideas.

Although I am not a conservative, I am all for conservatism as long as it does not degrade into traditionalism.

So, I do not advocate that we all should return to the glory days of micro-usb or nokia thin pin chargers. In the same way I also do not advocate that we forcefully move everyone to a new govt mandated standard.

A true conservative would rather argue that change would happen as the market demands. I would side with him rather than the progressive view that some babu sitting in a dusty govt office should decide what charging standard is good for the world and then use govt machinery to force it on everyone.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Haha. Sorry but the conservatives here would love your ideas.

While I am all in for the common standards, I think the "conservatives" have a problem with Govt dictated one.

Typical standards that we see all around us are defined by organizations / bodies that are made up technical experts: some academic, some corporate. Of course the funding is corporate so we can imagine the loyalties.
However, for the common public the net outcome is that they get a standardized technology and thus assured minimum quality with least compatibility issues between various components.

All this is extremely common in the B2B segment.
We have organizations like IEEE, IEC, ITU, ISO, and countless others working towards betterment of human society

The issue with Govt dictated ones is that being bureaucratic, they are slow to change (therefore many people stating the elimination of technical innovation).

The issue with International Standards Organization is that a few manufacturers may choose to NOT adhere and thus come out with their own contraption.

At least in B2B segment such OEMs are treated as pariah, however in B2C, customers are lured more by marketing than technicalities and therefore may not work.

[Kosfactor]

All the phones at home uses C-Type, same as my Thinkpad! The Thinkpad charger takes care of charging the phones with its 'Turbo' charging capability, problem solved.

I do not however think that we need any regulations for this - it may hamper new innovations, charging is no joke, ports are very advanced as well, USB C-type has already taken over. Even the most reluctant manufacturers will eventually switch over.

I would like my devices to have multiple ports, headphone jacks and even an SD card slot as well for good measure. Massive phones these days are coming without a headphone jack, what a joke!

[AZT]

Apple pushes back against EU common charger, warns of innovation risks

iPhone maker Apple on Thursday pushed back against EU lawmakers’ call for a common charger, warning the move could hamper innovation, create a mountain of electronic waste and irk consumers.

Source : https://in.reuters.com/article/us-eu...-idINKBN1ZM2EV

[Anduril]

Compatibility issues like these eventually gets sorted out even without state / govt intervention like how the myriad charging pins from Nokia era distilled down to just two, the micro-usb and lightning (apple only). A similar shift is already underway now with usb-c. Even my wireless headphone (besides my mac) has usb-c charging pins. Also, almost all new cameras (DSLRs and mirrorless) are having usb-c for data transfers and charging on-the-go.
So yes, these things eventually gets standardized...it's just a matter of "when" rather than "if".

Besides, EU has a history of meddling with tech companies like the antitrust case against Microsoft over IE and again with Google to offer choice of browser in android.