• The new law was passed by the European Union parliament on Tuesday.
• It will compel all phone makers that sell devices in the region to switch to the USB Type-C standard.
• The same change will apply to notebooks, but only from 2026 onwards.

Apple always like to do things a little differently to its Android and HMS phone makers. In recent years one of the sticking points has been its Lightning port, which is the only option available on the iPhone, while the vast majority of the industry has switched to USB Type-C.

While Apple has tried its best to buck this standard, it may soon be compelled to do so, as the European Union parliament passed a new law earlier today that will force all phone makers selling devices in the region to use USB Type-C.

The new law passed overwhelmingly by 602 in favour and 13 against, according to the AFP. It also extends to devices outside of smartphones too, with tablets, notebooks and cameras soon needing to adopt the standard for its charging port too.

“Today is a great day for consumers, a great day for our environment,” noted Maltese MEP Alex Agius Saliba, regarding this decision.

“After more than a decade; the single charger for multiple electronic devices will finally become a reality for Europe and hopefully we can also inspire the rest of the world,” he added.

The change will be implemented for smartphones, tablets and cameras from late 2024, while notebooks will need to do so by 2026. As such, this will likely force Apple to feature USB Type-C on its iPhone 16 series, if that is indeed what it will be called. It will also be interesting to see whether Apple will roll out two different iterations, with one model designed for the EU and a Lightning version for the US and other markets.

Given that Apple has already adopted USB Type-C for some of its MacBook notebooks, as well as newer iPad models, it would make a lot of sense to unify the standard across all of its devices moving forward. That said, Apple will always march to the beat o fits own drum.

With the move to USB Type-C expected to save at least €200 million per year for the region, as well as cut down massively on ewaste in future, perhaps Apple will acquiesce in the name of the environment, which was one of the reasons why it ditched the charger from new iPhone packages.

[Image – Photo by Mishaal Zahed on Unsplash]