It appears like India is going to follow the European Union in mandating a universal standard charger as the country is now in the "early stage of considering imposing regulations on consumer products," as per MacRumors.
According to a report by Mint, the government already set a meeting with industry stakeholders to look at the possibility of having a common charger for mobile phones and other portable electronic devices.
EU and India's Move to Adopt a Common Port Will Greatly Affect Apple
Earlier this summer, an agreement was reached by the EU mandating Apple to adopt USB-C on the iPhone and AirPods by fall of 2024.
Despite reaching an agreement, the European Parliament and European Council still have to formally approve the legislation later this year before Apple is forced to make the changes.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, officials in India conducted a meeting with industry stakeholders and popular consumer electronic makers. One of the topics that they discuss if the effect of having a common charger.
"The meeting will be more of an explorative nature. We will try to learn from the stakeholders how a common charger can be adopted in India," India's secretary of Consumer Affairs told local media outlets, as reported by MacRumors.
The move of EU and India's to adopt a "common port" would greatly affect a wide range of devices, particularly Apple. Since 2012, the tech company has maintained the Lightning port in its iPhones.
Meanwhile, Apple have largely moved towards USB-C in their other products such as the Mac and iPad.
With this ongoing issue of moving towards a common port, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported earlier that Apple is already testing a USB-C iPhone.
According to Kuo and Gurman, this new feature could possibly debut with the iPhone 15 next year. Kuo added that we can expect other Apple products such as the AirPods to follow this change.
Read Also: Brazil Considers Making USB-C Chargers on iPhone Mandatory
EU Initiated the Move to Adopt a Common Port
The move to adopt a common port was initiated by the EU. On June 7, 2022, lawmakers of the EU casted their votes favoring a common charging standard for electronic devices.
According to Digital Trends, the policy covers a total of 15 categories such as mobile phones, tablets, cameras, audio wearables, etc.
With this policy, manufacturers are given until 2024 to integrate USB-C on their devices. The policy also covers laptops, but companies are given 40 months, or until early 2026, to make the necessary changes.
The policy is after reducing the waste and making people's lives easy since there would only be one charger for all of their devices, as per Digital Trends.
EU stated that with the new law, around 11,000 metric tons of e-waste annually would be cut down. Also, customers would be able to save €250 million or around $268 million on "unnecessary charger purchases."
With this move by EU, Apple would be forced to make iPhones and other devices with USB-C port, as EU made sure that the company is going to abide by the law.
Related Article: Apple Will Install USB-C Ports to Future iPhones and Other iOS Devices, Analyst Says
