Now we've all got a common charging connector, the next step is to make the inbox charger optional.

Some already do, I believe.

They will spec the device such that it will need a private charger. And then the outbox will become charged in monetary sense for us consumers.

Seem to have about 10 of the bloody things. Mind you they seem to be fragile little unrepairable buggers - nearly broke my wrist trying to plug in something into a socket that already had an earth pin in it more than once.

What is fun is some chargers seem to be pathetic - good for overnight phone charge, and others will do it in a couple of hours. I may have to get some of those glasses with magnifiers and led lights so I can read the microscript on the chargers before use!

Yeah, that came to mind when I read same connector...

I recently got a Pixel 6. No charger in the box.

Am I mistaken in remembering they tried this before, Apple swerved the issue by selling a micro-USB -> lightning dongle? I'm assuming they've tightened up the requirement for the USB-C charging edict.

It's not just the charger - it's the charging PORT. They can't get around it now. one charger to rule them all!

Ah, but will the USB-C charging port be required to charge the device as fast as the proprietary one? It wouldn't be that hard to put a throttle on the current going through it so the proprietary one is always much faster.

Personally, I'd like to see something like the MagSafe connectors become standard. Easy connect (practically lines itself up) and no worries about accidentally yanking or tripping on the cord, as it unplugs itself easily as well. With a bit of very careful engineering, they could even be highly water-resistant on the device side.

I switched to magnetic tip chargers for my phones, to reduce the mechanical stress on the charge port of repeated entry/disengagement. Used to have to replace MicroUSB sockets every 6 months or so on my phone, and that was before they started gluing the damn things together. USB-C seems to be stronger than Micro-USB (which was seemingly made of spider silk and wishes) but I'm not taking the risk these days... might not be able to do data and as such negotiate the faster speeds from some chargers, but a lot easier than hairdryering a device open every couple of fortmonths....

Yikes! How often do you plug/unplug?

My ancient Samsung S4 has micro USB, and it still works just fine after 8 or so years. I don't use the phone overmuch, so only charge every second day (plus occasionally plug into my desktop to download pics/videos from the phone).

Note that the cable is always plugged in to the phone first, so that it is not live - even small sparks from the 5V will slowly corrode contacts.

I thought that the lifetime mating cycles was in the high 000s low 10000. What annoys me the most is those people that bend the buggery out of cables. If they want right angles then get a right angle connector.

That is a really short amount of time to wear out a charging socket.

I think I know what the issue is, and offer a fix. When using a phone to happen a nail in, hold the phone by it's body, not by the charging cable.

I love MagSafe. USB-C on a laptop on your knee just feels fragile.

Apple could happily include both ports. They could even sell a short cable that has an inline female USB-C and a magsafe (which gets you an extra USB port by not using the builtin USB-C for charging, and make it "feel better" on your knee, apparently)

As long as you can still charge directly through the USB-C without any proprietary shit, it should be compliant.

But as it stands, they are devaluing other brands by making Apple-only chargers ubiquitous - which is an antitrust move.

... who hold the patent, I believe. Could they not have come up with a good Open Standard in stead?

I can't see how it's good for the environment, when it consigns a ton of perfectly good chargers to e-waste. :( There were far better provisions they could have implemented for that, such as mandating that chargers be sold independent of electronics. Or asking OEMs to separate charging from data transfer.

I'm not sure it's great for devices either - not all kit needs the specs/capabilities of USB-C... yet that's what everything will now have to be designed for.

This seems like someone's personal preference that is now going to be imposed on everyone.

I don't get the argument that it will cause older chargers to be discarded. Surely that's what happens now anyway, since every new device comes with a new Ultra/Mega/Super/FasterWeSwear-2.0(TM) charge standard that wasn't available to the previous generation...

I have a drawer of the damn things as it is, and whenever i pull out an older piece of technology I spend ten minutes trying to find whatever proprietary mini-USB they decided to use to power it. A common standard won't cause the old chargers to become landfill overnight, but will mean that in the future there will be less waste over each new generations lifecycle. Admittedly the myriad variations-on-a-theme-but-not-interoperable methods of throwing more electrons down the same type of wire will continue to happen, but it will mean less, especially since if you just want an overnight charge you'll be fine with last year's plug.

The bigger impact on consumers will be the inevitability of chargers not being included, the unit price not dropping to compensate, and then Apple, Samsung et al charging you an extra £50 for a shiny new plug that claims to charge your device 50ns faster than the previous one you already own...

This affects the charging port on the device and the cable, but not the charger itself, assuming it has a USB A on that end.

So no need to consign them to e-waste.

When the EU is going to do anything about the Chinese chargers being sold that don't meet any safety and electromagnetic emission norms?

Worse - I've seen them on Amazon advertised as "genuine" chargers. It's a minefield for anyone who doesn't understand the risks.

Mind you, electricity in general seems to baffle some people. Moved house last year and most of my time to date has been putting the botched electricals right. Primarily, the previous owner seemed to either not understand, or have something against, earthing things (e.g. all metal cooker hood - not earthed. 32A commando socket in the garage - not only not earthed, but the earth bent up out of the way in a way that made it clear it was done on purpose. Various sockets - not earthed. The list goes on).

Sorry - went off on a bit of a ranty tangent there.

sounds like this guy was asking for a short, sharp shock to bring him back down to earth...

WTF! Did they have a small data centre in the corner; next to the lawnmower?

If you get such a device, you can complain as they are unlawful. Contact your local consumer protection agency.

Contact your local consumer protection agency.

Who will then inform you that you're case #2523956. And that's it.

That's part of the issue though, unfortunately. If you know the problem you already know what to look out for (3 quid for an "official" Apple/Samsung charger on Amazon etc won't be official anything). And conversely if you don't then it becomes a minefield.

And the folks who don't know, needless to say, don't even realise they need to educate themselves.

Nasty Chinese electrically noisy phone chargers are one of the many factors slowly killing the HF bands. I really wish the EU and UK would strictly enforce existing EMC legislation and stamp on manufacturers and importers who routinely supply fraudulent CE documentation.

Where are they sold? And who buys them?

Making a big batch 'o popcorn for this one. Will they move to wireless charging, thumbing their nose and blowing raspberries all the way?

Or use the lowest quality usb-c port so it breaks and they'll turn around say "we told you this was a bad idea" The usb-c port of course will be none replaceable

I assume that for the pro models they'll do as has long been planned and add a USBc port, but for "normal" devices I can see them going wireless charging only, and optionally provide a wireless charger which magnetically aligns.

Apple's next move will be Wireless charging only.

Nah they'll adopt it globally next year. Makes sense, most consumers want it anyway. They should have done it a couple of years back really, now they look silly.

They definitely won't go wireless only. Wireless charging is less practical in most use cases, less efficient, and besides all that it still requires a cable that is vastly more expensive than usb. Wireless only would tank iPhone sales.

They could have kept the micro-usb option. It's easy enough to adapt to a new USB-C charger but it's easier/cheaper to fit on small flashlights etc

I don't like micro USB, it's too difficult to see now my eyesight if failing. I love the bidirectional nature of USB-C. At my age any help getting a male plug into a female socket is greatly appreciated.

However I am disappointed that EU officials still (try and fail to) speak in English. The only nation that nominated English as an official language of the EU was the UK, so now the rest of them should drop it and speak in Estonian or French or German, whatever.

"The raison d'être? Less chargers for our consumers" ...no, no, fewer chargers, not less chargers. We should retaliate with raisin debtors.

> At my age any help getting a male plug into a female socket is greatly appreciated.

The good news is that you no longer need a prescription for something that'll help....

Unfortunately it's not only non-native-English-speakers who use "less" when they should use "fewer".

The EU has 24 official languages (which are all of the official languages of its member states); two EU member states, Ireland and Malta, have English as an official language. All of the 24 official languages can be used in the European Parliament.

Were you thinking of the three procedural languages of the European Commission, viz English, French, and German? If so, note that they are the three most spoken non-native languages within the EU.

see title

Basically yes

I like the original USB. No bloody A, B, C -or- D.

There will be a USB-D when and as a new spec comes along. Once there is a single standard already specified it's relatively simple to switch to a new one some time in the future, with a couple of years' windows when both USB-C and a hypothetical USB-D could work.

Or have a USB-C type 2 with identical plug that can support faster data / charging that can switch modes based on type of device plugged in

There isn't really any need for a new form factor, and that's what matters here. USB-C solves the problem that has bedevilled all other USB sockets thus far: the connections were not only not idiot-proof, they were often difficult to use correctly. I still frequently struggle with USB-A and micro connections and have too few USB-B and mini devices to care.

USB-C solves the mechanical and electrical problems and the data rate is high enough for consumer electronics for the foreseeable future (10 years).

How many world leading mobile phone companies currently exist in Europe? Zero. They are all either US or APAC based. Nokia and Erikson are dead as a handset manufacturers.

The point that the EU knows how to inovate by dictating technical standards is a bit backwards.

I get the need to stop electronic waste, but this is a hammer to crack a nut.

Saying that nothing will ever improve on USB-C is insane. Its certainly the best standard so far, but this actually blocks change, unless they say it has to be an ISO standard. There are like 5 different USB socket type. A, B, mini, micro, 3/C.

This is not about manufacturers, it's about free and fair markets and it is the remit of the European Commission to ensure these.

Consider the humble mains plug anything that plugs into the mains in any country in the EU must conform to the specification. But, not only does this mean that I can take my device from Germany to France, Portugal, Finland, Greece, etc., it also means that my Siemens washing machine has the same plug as a Moulinex one. There are also plugs and sockets for desktops, printers, etc. that have been through the same standardising process.

It's not even a secret that phone manufacturers used ports to restrict competition and bind users. Or, in the case of Apple, to drive up the cost of peripherals through licence fees.

" this actually blocks change, unless they say it has to be an ISO standard "

There's no warranty that becoming an ISO standard prevents the blocking of change. ISO standards are commonly developed via consensus of current common practice rather than as NIST does by seeking leading edge expertise, and as they typically have a 5 year or so development cycle their requirements can sometimes be quite out of date for quite some time.

After the return of Imperial measurements control will naturally have to be taken back with a BS 546 USB connector.

That's the one that stipulates rubber insulation with red line, black neutral and bare earth leads...

Most Earth leads were insulated in flexes, in Green for Earth.

Pity that a majority of the Male population is red/green colour blind.........

Not the majority.

Of course you'll be familiar with the fact that British Standard BS7671 for earth wires are yellow/green striped since 1977, so that no live or neutral wire could be misconnected. Also, red/green colourblindness in males is 8%, which isn't a majority even in post-Brexit-mathematics-land.

Standard connector? What kind of lilly-livered euro-weeny are you ?

Proper British connections will just give a you a pair of bare copper wires, red and black (none of this euro brn/blu/grn rubbish) and you will connect up your own device for charging.