Apple products may start using the same chargers as Android

Have you ever packed a USB charger into your bag before a long day, knowing you’ll need to charge your battery-draining new iPhone by about lunch time, only to find you’ve accidentally taken a Samsung cable with you?

You’re not the only one fed up with all these different leads that do exactly the same thing. The European Union is looking to clamp down on getting smartphone manufacturers to all follow the same standard.

The EU had tried to get smartphone companies to commit as far back as 2009, but while a fair few Samsung devices use the same ports as your PS4 controller, for example, Apple still like their proprietary (exclusive) tech like the Lightning charger.

Now it looks like they are trying to force everyone to adopt the same type of charger, such as the USB-C.

Competition chief Margrethe Vestager is quoted by The Telegraph as saying: “Given the unsatisfactory progress with this voluntary approach, the Commission will shortly launch an impact assessment study to evaluate costs and benefits of different other options.”

This is hypothetical at the moment, of course. Even if the European Union does get Apple to adopt, the changes may not come to the UK depending on how/if Brexit goes down.

While having less cables to faff around with would be very nice and all, we’d really like the headphone jacks to come back, please and thanks.

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