With the vision of reducing waste, the European Union is pushing for all phones to have industry standard USB-C chargers. But Apple claim the move “stifles innovation”.
It is estimated the move would cost €1.5 billion.
With around 420 million phones and other portable devices sold through Europe in the past year alone, politicians – who have been campaigning for more than a decade – point to the fact used and disused charging cables amount to 11,000 tonnes of waste each year.
Apple counter by claiming a shift away from the Lightening cable would create an “unprecedented volume” of waste.
They introduced the Lightening charger to replace the 30-pin connector in 2012, and switched to USB-C for iPads in 2018.
If passed, the EU proposal would come into effect in 2022 and companies would have two years to comply.
Apple are working with the EU to understand the implications of such a change and call the transition period a “major concern”. An Apple spokesperson says, “By 2030 every single Apple device and its usage will be carbon neutral.”
