Soon, One Cable Can Charge All Your Tech Stuff!
If you’ve got a cell phone, a tablet, a digital camera and a laptop that all use different wires to charge… get ready for a reprieve. A new law will likely have all of your new electronics using one standard cable to charge: USB-C.
The European Union (basically most of the countries in Europe) Parliament voted in a new law that will require all new phones, tablets and cameras to use USB-C cables to charge their devices by 2024. Laptops will be in on the action too. They’ll need to be powered via USB-C by 2026.
Kind of like California, where the EU goes so too does the world. So this could very likely change iPhones and other devices stateside.
Too many standards
If you’ve ever been an Android user with a low battery, and you ask your iPhone friend if they have a charger (or vice versa), you know the pain. iPhones use their proprietary Lightning cable, even though Macbooks are now entirely USB-C. Many Androids have hopped on to USB-C but some cheaper phones will still use Micro USB. Then cameras and laptops, forget about it! A ton of proprietary connectors that cost a fortune to buy from the manufacturer, or you chance it with an off-brand charger which could kill your device.
Too much waste
The goal is to lower the amount of marketplace confusion and e-waste. Many phone manufacturers including Apple and Google have stopped shipping their phones with chargers altogether. Sure, it’s a money grab, but many people already have chargers that can charge those devices. By getting all electronics onto one platform, the number of chargers necessary drops significantly. That means fewer wires and charging bricks being needlessly thrown in landfills. Which is a good thing.
You know what else it gets rid of? That one ridiculous drawer you have with a bunch of charging cables you forget which device they pair with! I’m convinced I have a wire for an old Gateway 2000 PC I had 20 years ago.
So, long live USB-C.
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