In our blog last month, we mentioned a proposed new EU law that will compel Apple to allow other rival web browsers on their iThings. This month, reports suggest we will soon be seeing the effects across the whole iOS range of a previous EU ruling that will have a big impact on how those devices will be charged.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg, iPhones may well be switching from their current Lightning charging port to a USB-C one. This will mean that there is only one wired method to charge all (recent) mobile devices. Android users will be able to borrow a friend's "iPhone" charger, and vice versa. The EU hope this will lead to less waste. If a single charger works with all devices, we shouldn't need so many of them.
As the article goes on to point out, this change will mean there's a somewhat confusing split of Apple devices that will be charged using one method, and others using the other. There may well be an adapter to mitigate this but, of course, this would increase rather than decrease digital waste.
It's looking likely that this change will come into effect from the 2023 range of phones.