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Saudi Arabia Mandates USB-C Charging Ports for Electronic Devices from 2025

Oğuz Çakır — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 22:00:00 +0000

Today, we use the USB-C port to charge almost all our electronic devices, except for Apple products. Thankfully, this is changing with iPhone 15. As you may know, the European Union made it mandatory for Apple and all other companies to use USB-C.Now, following in the footsteps of the EU, Saudi Arabia has also made a decision in favor of USB-C standardization. This move is expected to be a welcome change for consumers in the country. Here are the details…

Saudi Arabia Chooses USB-C Charging for All Gadgets from 2025

Previously, the European Union aimed to introduce a common charging port requirement for phones and various other electronic products sold within Europe. This decision was motivated by a goal to reduce electronic waste. As a result, starting in 2024, electronic devices, including iPhones, sold in the EU will be required to have a USB-C port as standard.

Saudi Arabia has now adopted a similar stance. As of 2025, almost all electronic devices sold in the country will be mandated to utilize USB-C charging ports. A government spokesperson spoke about this development, emphasizing its potential to enhance user experience. Moreover, this move aims to cut down on costs and e-waste, while also ensuring high-quality data transfers.

While the European Union’s recent move focuses on charging ports, they are not stopping there. They’re turning their attention towards batteries as well. A draft proposal currently under consideration could completely revamp battery use and management in electronic products sold in Europe.

One of the key aspects of this draft is its emphasis on “replaceability”. The EU intends for batteries in products like smartphones and laptops to be easily removable and replaceable by users, without the need for any special tools. If special tools are required, they should be provided free of charge.

Furthermore, the new regulations will require all companies selling batteries in the EU market to adopt a policy that addresses social and environmental risks linked with the sourcing, processing, and trade of raw materials used in battery production. The directive will also mandate that batteries contain a certain percentage of recycled materials: 16% cobalt, 85% lead, 6% lithium, and 6% nickel. This is in line with the vision to make newer batteries more environmentally friendly than their predecessors.

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Ex Twitter employee accused of helping Saudi Arabia Spy

Sean — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 10:40:18 +0000

A new report has revealed that at least one former employee of Twitter has been accused of helping a Saudi Arabia spy. Apparently, this person is also facing possible prison time as well in the US.

According to a Bloomberg report, an ex Twitter worker has allegedly been helping Saudi Arabi spy on critics. Furthermore, a jury in San Francisco has convicted US resident Ahmad Abouammo of serving as an agent for Saudi Arabia. The jury also accused the person of falsifying records, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. As per the prosecutors, Abouammo took bribes from a key aide to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Bader Al Asaker back in 2015.

These bribes were taken in exchange for sensitive account info that could be used to track and silence dissidents. In other words, he leaked information to help bury protestors. In his defense, the former media partnership manager said that he was only doing his job. Although, the prosecution uncovered evidence of Abouammo received Hublot watches from the aide worth a whopping 300,000 US Dollars and 20,000 US Dollars.

As of right now, Abouammo is facing a sentence of around 10 to 20 years in prison. Meanwhile, he and his legal team have declined to comment on the matter. Notably, this case highlights concerns regarding the potential for staff that are working at social media giant platforms. These workers potentially have the power to abuse account information, despite companies like Twitter claiming that employees have limited data access.

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Apple supplier Foxconn mulls building new factory in Saudi Arabia: Report

Sean — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 11:57:27 +0000

Foxconn, one of the primary supplier of Apple, is apparently in talks with Saudi Arabia regarding the construction of a new factory in the region. The company is mulling building a 9 billion US Dollar facility in the country.

According to a WallStreetJournal report, the supplier plans on setting up this site for the production of microchips, electric vehicle components, and other electronics as well. The report adds that Saudi Arabia is currently reviewing Foxconn’s offer to build a dual line semiconductor contract manufacturing factory, which is also simply known as a “foundry.” This new site will be situated in the region’s Neom. The city is known to be a tech focused city state that is currently being developed in the desert, as per sources close to the matter.

Unfortunately, the company and Saudi Arabian authorities have yet to officially comment on this news. For those unaware, Foxconn is a major supplier of the Cupertino based giant, but in recent times, it has been expanding its operations outside of consumer electronic products. The company is now diversifying its production to include electric vehicles as well, which has recently becoming popular in the automobile industry.

This news also arrives amid ongoing frictions between the US and China. Apart from Saudi Arabia, the firm is also planning on potentially building a production project in the United Arab Emirates as well. In other words, it plans on moving its production sites outside of China for technologies not related to consumer electronic gadgets.

Huawei signs world’s largest energy storage project with 1,300MWh capacity for Saudi Arabia

Zohaib Ahmed — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 12:06:13 +0000

Huawei Digital Power’s Global Digital Power Summit 2021 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates was attended by over participants from 67 countries. The summit aimed to inspire collective action towards developing a low-carbon and smarter society powered by digital technology, while the globe prioritizes carbon neutrality and post-pandemic recovery.

At the summit, Huawei Digital Energy Technology and Shandong Electric Power Construction (SEPCO3) successfully signed the Saudi Red Sea New City energy storage project (via: IT Home). Huawei stated that the energy storage capacity of the project reaches 1300MWh, which is by far the world’s largest energy storage as well as off-grid energy storage project.

Image: IT Home

The Red Sea New City Energy Storage Project is one of the key parts of Saudi’s Vision 2030 plan. FYI, the plan is a strategic framework to reduce the country’s dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation, and tourism.

The project’s main developer is ACWA Power and the EPC contractor is SEPCO3. The Red Sea New City, or Neom, is located on the coast of the Red Sea and Saudi aims for the entire city’s energy needs to be met by renewable energy sources alone.

The Huawei Digital Energy Technology company was only recently established on June 7, 2021. It is built with a registered capital of RMB 3 billion (468 million USD) and has Hu Houkun, Deputy Chairman of Huawei as its legal representative.

Xiaomi opens its first official physical store in Saudi Arabia

Sean — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 09:19:50 +0000

Xiaomi has just opened its first official brick and mortar store in Saudi Arabia. The company’s new Mi Store is situated in the Electron Commercial Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and was officially opened earlier this month.

Images Via Xinhua

This marks the opening of the first official physical store from the Chinese tech giant in the region, which will sell Mi branded products like smartphones to various other consumer electronics products and related accessories a well. This includes products like smartwatches, and even smart home appliances like vacuum cleaners and other products from its vast ecosystem.

These products will also range from high end, mid range, to entry level products for Saudi customers. This marks a major step for the smartphone maker as it was recently ranked among the top three smartphone brands in the country in the first quarter of this year by Canalys, a market analysis based firm. Xiaomi held a market share of 12 percent in the region in Q1 2021.

The company’s Saudi state manager Wang Xingang added that “With the development of China’s scientific and technological strength, the smart electronic products, including smartphones, are deeply loved by consumers in the Middle East.” The official also stated his optimism regarding the brand’s performance in the Saudi market, and even expressing his hope for additional Mi stores to open in the country in the near future to introduce the “China smart manufacturing” to the world.

Saudi Arabia is open to using Huawei technology

Jeet — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 04:12:18 +0000

Amid the US-China trade war, Huawei has become a target and is facing various restrictions that essentially aims to stop the company from doing business. While various countries have imposed a ban on Huawei, here comes some good news for the Chinese telecom giant.

Saudi Arabia’s technology minister has said that he sees no problem in using products made by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co. In an interview with Kyodo News, Abdullah bin Amer al-Swaha said: “we don’t see a problem” when asked whether he has any concerns about using Huawei products.

On the sidelines of a Group of 20 ministerial meetings on trade and digital economy in Tsukuba, eastern Japan, he said, “when it comes to building our digital economy, we have two guiding principles. The first one, we’re an open economy, so we are always pro-partnership, whether it comes from the East, Europe, or from the West. The second guiding principle, as long as those companies and those solution providers comply with our technical, regulatory and cybersecurity requirements, we’re more than happy to work with them.”

He also said that the country is planning the largest commercial rollout of the next-generation 5G mobile network in the Middle East and North Africa and that he hopes a cooperation agreement signed with Japan on Sunday will help make further advances in IT.

Editor’s Pick: Huawei is requesting developers to publish apps on its app store

While Huawei has been cruising pretty well in these trying times, the ban has clearly taken a toll on them. A senior executive for the company came out during the CES Asia technology show and said that Huawei’s plans to become the top smartphone manufacturer in the world may have to wait. He also claimed that Huawei currently still sells 500,000 to 600,000 smartphones a day in a speech at the CES Asia technology show in Shanghai.

Earlier this year, Huawei, which dominates the Chinese smartphone market, overtook Apple as world number two and said it believed it would overtake Samsung “earliest this year, and next year at the latest.”

Up Next: Huawei halts delivery and development of new notebooks PCs

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