Ah, but compliant with what standard, and quality assured by whom? Remember, just about every cheapo cable on Amazon brags about its standards compliance and their assurance of quality. 
Itās sad that itās Apple, who got their shit mostly right with Lightning, is paying the price of solving the mess that the USB āstandardsā created. But if we are talking about chargers, you cannot charge a Mac with a Lightning cable anyway. USB-C may have a lot of flaws but solves that.
What would be the reason to allow Apple to still be selling devices that cannot be charged via USB-C? What is Lightning doing today for iPhones that cannot be done via USB-C?
Apple may cry that this thwarts innovation, but we all know Apple is pushing for wireless charging everywhere!
Edit: full disclosure, european citizen here.
Allow Apple? Doesnāt your government have anything better to do?
Quoting the press release from the Commision: āHowever, due to incompatible chargers on the market more than a third of consumers report having experiencing problems, while spending approximately ā¬2.4 billion annually on additional standalone chargersā
Iād say ā¬2.4 billion qualifies it into the regulation territory.
1 Like
How much of the 2.4 billion is Appleās fault?
I donāt know, but how would that be relevant to law makers?
Youāre kidding me, right?
Not really, honestly! If you are going to try and solve a mess that is costing citizens a couple billions ā¬ per year, it does not seem reasonable to me to exempt Apple on any basis.
Iām in favour of this ruling, and itās been a long time coming. Chargers should be standardised, it canāt just be EU homes that have graveyard drawers of chargers and cables without the corresponding devices. And we need regulation here because the markets have not standardised this by themselves.
Itās also daft to suggest this āstifles innovationā. The EU (and most developed countries!) already regulates a number of things relating to electronic devices. For a start, we all have the same plug sockets in our homes (at a country or regional level), in the EU we get to plug things in knowing they wonāt blow up owing to legal requirements for how things are designed, etc. Other household appliances already have somewhat standardised connectors (fridges and other white goods are mostly designed the same, so that they can be hooked up to a houseās existing infrastructure, and those power cables are all standard). Why shouldnāt tech devices be subject to the same requirements? I have within reach of me right now an iPad, an iPhone and a Nintendo Lite and all 3 have a different port for the same task of charging their battery. Itās ridiculous.
4 Likes
For everyone who is in favor of legislating standardized chargers to āhelp the environmentā, where should it end? Should we standardize phones and just make everyone have the same phone? That would eliminate more e-waste than anything.
1 Like
But since every device comes with the charging cable it needs to charge, isnāt that $2.4 billion at least somewhat of an inflated number?
It would be one thing if every new device from every manufacturer came with its own weird charging cable. But right now, pretty much every cell phone is one of three chargers - lightning, Micro-A, or USB-C. And little dongle tips are even available to convert from one to another.
I feel like that $2.4 billion is almost certainly counting very common circumstances like āI replaced my cable because the last one brokeā, or āI left my cable on the planeā, neither of which has nothing to do with what little end is on it. 
2 Likes
@pantulis - So once again, we have an example of an overreaching government that is late to the party, trying fix something that has already begun to sort itself out.
1 Like
There still seems to be a lot of misunderstanding regarding this. (And if Iām misunderstanding, please let me know).
Coinciding with my recollection,
Blockquote
The Commission first facilitated a voluntary agreement by the industry in 2009 that resulted in the adoption of the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and led to reducing the number of existing charging solutions for mobile phones on the market from 30 to 3. Following the Memorandumās expiration in 2014, a new proposal by industry presented in March 2018 was not considered satisfactory in delivering a common charging solution or meeting the need for improved consumer convenience and e-waste reduction.
As I said, much of the problem has started to be resolved, but I believe only because of this campaigning. If the EU has stopped short, I know I wouldnāt trust the industry to keep standardising.
The claim is
Blockquote
spend approximately ā¬2.4 billion annually on standalone chargers that do not come with electronic devices
So, not cables and also not what they claim to be trying to save. They are hoping for a tenth of that.
Blockquote
this would help consumers limit the number of new chargers purchased and help them save ā¬250 million a year on unnecessary charger purchases.
I think Appleās complaint in terms of stifling innovation is valid, but what the EU wants is for innovation to be done industry-wide.
If Apple invented a new method that is better, why not share it so the whole planet benefits? Develop the standard, thatās what the legislation asks for.
Source:
1 Like
I actually only use devices coming from Apple!
Right now I have 6 (SIX!!) different cable lying on my desk in a wild crowd, to charge my Apple Devices from the last couple of years!
It is Apples Fault!
I also have 3 large (60x35x35cm) Boxes standing on my floor, with all those cables from the different devices I used during the last 4-5 decades, and maybe still are in need of, if I want to, or are in need to, use an old device again.
There were plenty of time, I think the campaign startet around 2005 or so, for the industry to go with one cable as a solution!
This failed, so the announced consequences is the law, we got now.
And I am really looking forward to it, to stop the mess on my desk in the future!
I know that it is for some people a kind of Reflex, to damn everything that comes from an government, just because it comes from an government, but I am Happy with vast majority of the consumer friendly legislation we got in Europe and Germany!
5 Likes
Six different cables? Iāll assume USB-C, Lightning & Watch (which wouldnāt be covered by the EU legislation, as magnetic charging is exempted by my understanding, but Iāll count it as a cable on your desk ).
Which other three?
USB-Mini, Mag-Safe and the 30-pin.
Oh, and an extra USB-Extension-Cord, to plug all those cable inā¦
Magsafe is exempted from the EU regulations, by my understanding. How old is the device using the 30-pin connector? I was of the impression that was discontinued in 2014.
And which Apple device is using USB-Mini for charging?
The number of cable for my Apple devices are in no connection with the EU-Legislation, starting from 2024!
So it doesnāt matter that the Qi-Charging is currently not part of this legislation, but it will be part of the future legislation anyway, as Apple is going a different way on this also.
The 30-Pin belongs to my old iPad, and my iPod.
The USB-Mini to my Beats Headphones.
And if I want to make the Number even larger, my MBP and my iMac also run on different cables.
Reading through all the replyās a question came to mindā¦
Will the electronic industry as a whole now have to get EU approval to move to a different charging standard? We all know how fast governments work, so this shouldnāt be a problem.
1 Like
So to clarifyā¦in a discussion relating specific legislation related to chargers that donāt come with the associated devices, youāre counting cables from 8-year-old devices as being from āthe last couple of yearsā, and counting two magnetic charging cables that are specifically exempted from the legislation AND one of which was a completely optional purchase on your part (MagSafe)?
That seems disingenuous.
Unless Iām really missing something, this legislationās main effect on Apple is, quite literally, to force them to switch Lightning devices to USB-C, and to accelerate the Beats lineās transition to USB-C.
The watch is completely exempt by policy. And if the EU standardizes wireless charging, they almost certainly wonāt be standardizing on something other than Qi, which MagSafe is compatible with. Nothing prevents Apple from doing their own thing in addition to the EU standard.
Again, this is about the cost of power cords that donāt come with devices. Iām 100% sure that both of your Macs came with the appropriate power cord.
Yes, if they want to sell in Europe. The claim is that the legislation will be easy to amend for a future standard. Iāll leave the validity of that claim as an exercise for the reader.