One USB-C Connector to Rule Them All?
I predict the EU’s love affair with USB-C will end in a tangled mess of expensive cables (for all of us)
Gigabytes worth of words must have been typed in online discourse about Apple’s adoption of USB-Type C.
Yet what often goes undescribed is the decade-long bureaucratic marathon of lobbying, debates, and consultations that shaped the EU regulations that drove this change.
The outcome of that process is that now, under EU regulations, Apple and other companies must include USB Type-C ports on a wide range of devices (referred to as radio equipment) sold within the EU as long as those devices can be charged by a wire.
These devices range from mobile phones to keyboards. In addition, these devices must also facilitate standard USB data transfer and support USB Power Delivery (PD).
The aim appears to be twofold. The first is to achieve uniformity in the charging experience across devices, and the second, arguably larger, goal is to reduce electronic waste.
On the face of these aims, they appear uncontroversial.
As Józef Sikela, who served as the Czech Minister for Industry and Trade, describes, “We all have at least three mobile phone chargers at home. Looking…
