Apple to finally embrace USB-C to comply with EU mandate

Apple has confirmed that it will be ditching the Lightning connector for USB-C across its whole lineup of devices.

Greg Joswiak, the marketing director at Apple, stated in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the Cupertino-based tech giant will replace the Lighting port even if the company disagrees with the EU mandate.

Recently, the EU formalised new regulations requiring most personal electronics to transition to USB-C for data transfers and charging.

Joswiak didn’t appear thrilled with how governments around the world are handling this issue when he spoke at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ Tech Live event. He pointed out that that the EU lawmakers once tried to standardise on the now-outdated micro-USB connector and is now doing the same thing with USB-C.

Joswiak claims that Apple feels it struck a balance by having a cable that can be disconnected from the power brick, allowing one side to have Lightning and the other to have the USB-C or USB-A connector that the user finds most convenient.

The lightning connector was introduced by Apple about ten years ago, and since then, numerous Apple devices, like the iPhone, iPad, and Airpods, have used it as their main charger. Apple already uses USB-C for some of its iPad models. It is highly likely that the iPhone 15 will ditch Lightning in favour of the USB-C.

Europe is not the only region that is looking to standardise charging ports for all electronic devices. The US, Brazil and India have all hinted at passing legislation to force companies to embrace USB-C as the de-facto charging feature.