Earlier this month, the European Union announced that it wished to create a new law that could force smartphone manufacturers to adopt a single common smartphone charging standard. The EU believes it will benefit the consumers and environment but Apple has taken a stance against it.
According to the Cupertino based giant, the move to standardize smartphone chargers will stunt innovation in the industry and could leave to force conformity and also create a lot of e-waste and ultimately harm consumers. Notably, this move from Apple is clearly to protect its best interest as the company stands to suffer the most losses if the law is passed.
A large part of Apple’s revenue is generated from its accessories that the company sells from various online and offline assets. These accessories, especially chargers, arrive with the proprietary lightning port, which means that it belongs to Apple. This means that the company can even charge third party manufacturers that make accessories for Apple products.
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One of the main arguments Apple stated was the “forced conformity” which could affect industry innovation. The tech giant also claimed that the move could also potentially harm the European economy. A study showed results in Apple’s favor as the law would cost consumers 1.5 billion Euros over a mere 13 million Euros in the form of environmental benefits.
The study also claims that nearly 49 percent of EU households utilize different types of chargers out of which only 0.4 percent ever face any significant issues. Apple stated that the law is obsolete as the industry is already shifting towards USB Type C ports via chargers or cable connectors. For example, the iPhone 11 Pro uses USB C but still requires a lightning cable adapter.
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(Via)
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