No Lightning port for iPhone: EU agrees on standardized USB-C charging by 2024

TL;DR

• The European Union Commission agrees on USB Type-C connectors as standard for electrical devices such as smartphones, Bluetooth speakers and notebooks.
• The standard is to apply from 2024, with a longer transition period only for notebooks.
• The EU Parliament and the respective states still have to agree, but this is considered a formality.

After years of negotiations, it happened today: The EU was able to agree on the USB Type-C connector as an EU-wide standard! This means that many electronic devices, including smartphones, will have to have this connector on board from fall 2024. In the meantime, USB-C has long been the standard for almost all smartphones.

Only Apple is still shooting from the side and continues to rely on its Lightning standard. So it is only a matter of time until the iPhone with USB-C port becomes reality!

iPhone with USB-C as early as 2023?

The fact that the negotiations with the countries came about at all after long negotiations is due to a date compromise: the regulation will not come into force until 2024 brought the more skeptical countries on board. The decision even goes much further than previously thought: Not only smartphones, tablets, headphones and mobile speakers must have a USB-C port from 2024, the regulation will also apply to notebooks, keyboards, mice, navigation devices, smartwatches, e-readers and electronic toys.

The only prerequisite for these products is that the device is large enough for such a port. Laptops will be granted a longer transition period: They will probably not have to have a USB-C port until the beginning of 2026. However, the regulation is not yet in the bag, but the pending approvals of the EU Parliament and the EU states is merely a formality.

Of course, this also means that Apple will have to sacrifice the Lightning port in favor of USB-C, at least for Europe. This raises whether Apple will possibly take a two-pronged approach and only introduce USB-C for Europe, or replace Lightning completely. Furthermore, Apple now has to think about how fast the changeover will succeed. It would be smart to use the new connector as early as 2023.

Question: What do you think of this decision? And do you think that Apple will decide in favor of USB-C as early as 2023? Write it down for us in the comments.