October 27, 2022
Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of global marketing, has confirmed that the company will comply with an EU law requiring electronic devices to use a common charging standard known as USB-C.
“Obviously, we’ll have to comply,” he says, after the European Union mandated that all phones sold in its member states must use the connector if they have a physical charger.
The European Council’s approval came after other EU legislative bodies approved the law, which affects Apple’s iPhone Lightning charger and requires iPhones to support USB-C.
Joswiak refused to say whether the plug would be included in phones sold outside the EU, but he said Apple was unhappy about being legally forced to make the switch, and Apple and the EU had some disagreements.
“We believe it would have been better for the environment and for our customers if the government had not been so prescriptive,” he said.
EU legislators argue that the rules will reduce waste because consumers do not have to buy a new charger every time they buy a device. According to the EU, this will reduce the production and disposal of new chargers.
The sources for this piece include an article in TheVerge.
