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Recently, The European Commission announced plans to require a universal charging ports for all mobile devices by mid-2024.
As reported in many newspapers, their goal is to limit toxic waste, in addition to help consumers, that are mostly required to accumulate lots of cables and chargers.
Again, some large companies in the industry, such as Apple, are strongly opposed to these plans, defending its lightning cable, which is used in their iphones and older models of ipad. Apparently the move to migrate to usb-c connectors has already been adopted by the company on new ipads or even its line of laptops, yet this may represent a revenue issue for the company, since its accessories are not cheap.
Apart from that, to maximize profits, Apple is already not including chargers with the new iphones, which is an absurd. In Brazil, by the way, a judge, very correctly in my opinion, ruled in favor of consumer who bought a brand new phone, since this came to be considered a tying sale, that is, I sell you a product, then I sell you another one so that the first will work.
I confess that this topic brings me mixed feelings. On one hand, I like the idea of certain regulations in the industry to standardize practices or products in order to make the user’s life easier, technically, economically or even to protect consumers from shady business. On the other hand, I see that some decisions can limit technological innovation.
Even so, I understand this initiative as a positive one, as it also promotes the possibility for companies to work together in the development of new technologies, thus benefiting everyone.