What They Say
Last week, there were lots of reports of the EU’s plans to adopt USB Type-C as a uniform charging standard for consumer devices to reduce the waste and duplication of power supplies up to 11,000 tonnes of waste per year in the EU for cables and power supplies. The proposed legislation would apply to
- smartphones
- tablets
- cameras
- headphones
- portable speakers
- handheld video game consoles
As many reports pointed out, Apple, in particular is resistant to this move and Bloomberg’s Power-On newsletter repeated its recent review of what Apple is currently doing with connectors.
- Lightning: Apple uses Lightning for
- all of its iPhones, t
- the entry-level iPad (but not the iPad mini, iPad Air or iPad Pro),
- iPod touch, and
- accessories like the Apple TV remote, MagSafe Duo and Battery Pack, all AirPods products and cases, and keyboards, mice and trackpads.
- USB-C: Apple uses USB-C for the charger on the current MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPad Pro and iPad Air.
- MagSafe for iPhone: Apple launched its large puck-shaped MagSafe charger for the iPhone 12 line last year.
- MagSafe for Apple Watch: The Apple Watch has used the same MagSafe charger since the first model in 2015, but the upcoming Series 7 is getting an updated puck that can charge the watch more quickly and has USB-C on the other end.
- MagSafe for Mac: MagSafe started its Mac comeback earlier this year with a new round connector on the revamped 24-inch iMac. Expect another MagSafe design to make its way to the new MacBook Pro this year.
Around half of chargers sold with mobile phones in the European Union in 2018 had a USB micro-B connector, while 29% had a USB C connector and 21% a Lightning connector, a Commission impact assessment study in 2019 found, according to the BBC.
What We Think
It’s not clear to me why notebooks were not included but I guess it may be because some gaming notebooks use a lot of power.
I’m a hoarder and I have boxes and boxes of PSUs for many different devices, kept on the grounds that ‘as soon as I throw one away, I’ll need it’. Given that several of them are multi-voltage PSUs (including one I made by hand some 50 years ago!), that’s kind of crazy, so I like the idea of standardisation. However, sometimes standards can block development, especially in power. When I look around at the huge, bulky and ugly UK power sockets, I see the downside of getting stuck at a particular level of standard and I can see why Apple, which has moved technology forward significantly over the last 40+ years, partly through miniaturisation, I can see why it would not want to go this way.
On the other hand, new constraints sometimes bring out the best in engineers and clever work-arounds may yet arrive. (BR)
