Palace things go slowly, but they eventually come true. The European Union has already approved what can be described as a proposal to unify the chargers of all mobile devices around the USB-C connection. Only those smaller devices, such as smartwatches, would be exempt. Only two weeks ago, we already saw signs of this positioning.
Lightning’s future, increasingly short
It’s a direct torpedo to the iPhone and its Lightning connection. Apple has always defended its proprietary connection and opposed a standard arguing that you need room to innovate, and limiting the possibilities to a single port limits this innovation. There are recent signs that Lightning has improvements in the future, matching its speeds to those of USB 3.0, so Apple hasn’t stopped development.
But of course, this improvement of Lightning will not make much sense if in the end he cannot be present in the European Union. Here Apple has time as an ally, since this European Union proposal may not be effective before 2025. And in two and a half years, the technology can change a lot, so much so that even Apple could play the game of selling an iPhone without ports to circumvent the law.
The next steps are to work on the final text and approve it in early 2023. From then on, a two-year coming-into-force period would begin, time for tech companies to have time to prepare. There is time and a lot of bureaucracy, but there is less and less chance that this proposal will be canceled. We are moving towards USB-C slowly but surely.
