The European Union today has announced that Type-C will be the common charging standard for small and medium-sized devices. The EU Parliament and Council members have decided that companies will have to implement Type-C as their main charging port within 2 years.
This does not affect any of the existing lineups of products that companies like Apple makes. The new decision as reported previously will also impact laptops, but they have up to 40 months to implement the changes.
Additionally, the EU has also decided to give more power to consumers. Any person who wishes to buy a new device has complete rights to decide whether they need a charging cable or not. This will allow users to continue to use their old chargers. The EU will continue to work with companies to bring more innovations to the technology.
The EU Parliament and Council members will return after the summer recess to formally approve the decision. The agreement and the findings will be printed in the EU Official Journal and will be in force after 20 days.
PD charging for devices
Now that we know that devices for the European markets will come with Type-C ports, it will be crucial for users to carry just a single adapter. While we’ve eliminated the need to carry several cords or wires, having the right adapter is also important. Power delivery (PD) chargers come with high wattage support but can change the output based on the device plugged in.
For instance, an 80W PD charger will be useful to charge a laptop with the Type-C cable. Once charged, you can use the same adapter (and cable) to charge your smartphone. It can even charge your smartwatch. All of this is controlled by the adapter’s onboard chip to understand the device and the wattage required.
Apple knew it was inevitable
The Cupertino tech giant knew that Type-C would be enforced on them soon. The company has been transitioning its products to Type-C. First with the iPad Pro models, then with the iPad Air and MacBooks. The entry-level iPad, premium iPhones and all of its AirPods lineup continue to still use the Lightning port for charging.
However, the company is also ready to bring Type-C to its iPhones too. Recent reports indicate that the iPhone 15 will be the first smartphone from the company to bring a standard charging port. It all feels like it was a calculated move by the company. Maybe they realised that the EU decision would inevitably be in favour of Type-C.
