Say goodbye to charger chaos: 'USB-C Everything' law goes into force

If you’ve been following tech for over a decade or two, you’d know just how much of a pain charging an electronic device truly was. Electronic devices came in all shapes and sizes, each with its unique and often proprietary charger. You would need a specific charger per electronic device, and that also extended to phones and even smartphones. The world eventually moved on to mini-USB, micro-USB, and USB-C, but companies like Apple held us back by stubbornly using a Lightning port. But thanks to EU legislation that has now gone into force, we have finally and truly moved on to USB-C everything.

The EU’s Common Charger Directive is one of the most significant driving forces behind standardizing charging ports not only in the European Union but also globally. Many companies adopted USB-C of their own accord, but the legislation created enough pressure to force holdouts like Apple to concede and adopt USB-C on their devices.

The EU’s Common Charger Directive was approved by the Council of the EU in October 2022. Manufacturers were given a transition period to adjust their designs and ensure compliance. Two days ago, i.e., on December 28, 2024, the rules went into force for mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, headsets, video game consoles, portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems, and earbuds sold in the EU.

This means that all new devices in the above categories must now support USB-C charging, or else they will not be allowed to be sold in the EU.

We’ve seen the effects of this, with companies like Apple no longer being allowed to sell the Lightning-equipped iPhone 14 and iPhone SE in the EU, prematurely retiring them in the region. Thankfully, Apple switched to USB-C with the iPhone 15 series, so newer iPhones are not impacted.

With a common charger, residents in the EU (and even globally) get the following benefits:

• Massive increase in consumer convenience, as a lot of devices charge with one USB-C charge, regardless of brand.
• As the charger is decoupled from the devices, more money is saved. However, many companies have absorbed the margin to fight inflation rather than pass on the benefit to consumers. So, the net result is a slower increase in prices.
• Reduction in e-waste as the rules encourage reusing chargers and discourage discarding unused chargers, thereby reducing environmental footprint.

While I did say that we’ve reached a true state of ‘USB-C everything,’ there’s still room to improve. The legislation itself gives laptop makers room until April 28, 2026, to add USB-C as a charging option on laptops sold in the EU. Beyond this, there are several other ways for the EU to achieve further harmonization, like standardizing wall outlets in the region to save us all from the tyranny of travel adaptors.