We’ve all got a drawer of shame hidden away somewhere in our house. Filled to the brim with a tangle of different cables. One for your phone, another for a tablet, and some cable that you’re not entirely sure what it charges.
However, one of those is about to disappear forever.
After years of pressure, tech giant Apple has finally committed to ditching the 2012 lightning port on their upcoming iPhones.
Speaking at a Wall Street Journal event, Apple’s Greg Joswiak said the company would follow through with an EU directive, that’ll mandate the use of USB-C on new devices.
“Obviously we’ll have to comply, we have no choice as we do around the world to comply to local laws, but we think the approach would’ve been better environmentally and for our customers to not have a government be that prescriptive.
However, he refused to say whether Apple would roll out the change next year, ahead of the 2024 law change.
USB-C is widely considered to offer faster data transfer speeds.
In a media release earlier this week, the Council of the EU confirmed it had given its final approval to the ‘common charger directive’.
This means the USB-C port will be consistently required across a whole range of electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and headphones.
The change will mean fewer cables for consumers, with most new devices being able to share chargers.
Jozef Síkela, Minister for Industry and Trade said looking for the right charger can be annoying and generates around 11,000 tonnes of e-waste annually.
“Having a charger that fits multiple devices will save money and time and also helps us reduce electronic waste.”
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