From 2024, smartphones, tablets, consoles and other digital cameras sold in the EU will all be equipped with the same USB-C port, and laptops, from 2026.
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The twenty-seven and the MEPs agreed on Tuesday, June 7, so that the single charger is now the rule within the European Union (EU). As early as 2024, smartphones, tablets, consoles and other digital cameras, sold within the EU, will all be equipped with the same USB-C port, regardless of the manufacturer. Laptops will be subject to the same requirement by 2026. The text also opens the way to a future standardization of wireless loading technologies, currently booming. And it provides that consumers will be able to buy a new device with or without charger.
11,000 tonnes of waste per year
This regulation, which will be formally approved after summer by the European Parliament and the Member States, could allow European consumers to save at least 250 million euros per year on the 2.4 billion euros as ‘They devote to purchases of chargers alone. As for the waste of unused chargers, valued at 11,000 tonnes per year, it could be reduced by almost 1,000 tonnes.
Apple, which fought a lot against this legislation, judged on Tuesday in a statement, that it “will impose significant losses on manufacturers, will reduce the choice of consumers and generate additional electronic waste. “Let’s say it clearly: if Apple wants to market its products [in Europe], we will have to respect our rules (…). We must think of the environment,” replied the commissioner to the internal market, Thierry Breton.