one charger to rule them all?

The dream of Apple and Android devices uniting under one common charging cable could actually become a reality, saving 51k tonnes of electronic waste every year…

Long story short, the European Parliament voted to compel manufacturers of small form-factor devices like mobile phones and tablets to introduce a universal charging solution that would mean one charger could theoretically charge all your devices. No more carrying multiple chargers for your different tech! All they need is for the European Commission to enact the rule.

So, for the Apple users, could this spell the end of lightning cables? Apple certainly hopes not. Even though they have adopted USB-C on their Macbooks in recent years, their iOS empire still relies heavily on their propietary Lightning cable. They claim that forcing them to adopt an open standard would stifle innovation. Exactly how remains unclear but they are unequivocally opposed to adopting a connector that would work with devices beyond their control, even if it would make life easier for consumers (iPhone chargers aren’t exactly cheap compared to their USB rivals).

For Android users, the change might not be so pronounced. For a long time the de-facto standard on Android devices was micro-USB and, more recently, almost all Android-device manufacturers have been moving towards USB-C. The front-runner for a Universal Charger would likely be built around the open USB-C standard because of its obvious benefits – fast charging, fast data-transfer rates (and it’s reversible!).

MEPs also want the EC to ensure that any implementations of wireless chargers are compatible across different devices so that wireless charging capabilities don’t replace connectors as an ecosystem differentiator.

Why now?

The simple answer is – The environment. The EC estimates that obsolete cables create around 51k tonnes of electronic waste every year.

Whilst the current drive around environmental concerns is a decisive factor in this coming around now, it’s worth noting that this is really nothing new. Way back in 2009 all the major manufacturers at the time actually agreed to use a common charger – LG, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, Nokia (remember them?) and even Apple were all signatories to a “Memorandum of Understanding” on the issue.

It’s also worth noting that the issue was even more pronounced back then. Almost every device manufacturer had their own unique charging connector, making borrowing a charger from a friend/colleague an improbable game of chance.

Nowadays, we can say there are generally just three connectors – Micro-USB, USB-C and Lightning.

A moot point?

Physical connectors are all well and good, and something we are all used to accepting as a fundamental aspect of modern tech life, but isn’t everything going wireless now?

A fair point and, unfortunately, both yes and no would be a fair answer. The main flagships from Apple, Samsung and Google all support wireless charging now. The promise is simple, set your phone down on a charging pad and voila – magical electricity charges your phone. No plugged-in cable required.

Case closed? Not quite. Wireless charging still can’t quite meet the charging speeds offered by a traditional fast charger and, when not at home, you’ll still need to carry a charging pad that you’d have to plug in somewhere (just like a standard charger). With no physical ports on phones (as Apple is rumoured to be considering), that would also be the end of peripherals that relied on it, like wired headphones, and there would be no more connecting devices to computers for data transfer or other tinkering. Somewhat ironically, the inconvenient convenience of physical leads has yet to be matched by wireless consumer technologies.

So, what next?

I can’t help but think that the future is indeed wireless. However, it’s clear that our wireless utopia is still a while away. The technology itself still needs time to mature, it will then need to gain widespread adoption and, despite wireless charging having been around for a while now, it still hasn’t really gained as much consumer traction as had been hoped. We are used to being tethered to our trusty cables.

Eventually, that may well change. Apple has already shown an impressive ability to drive consumer change, like it did by removing the beloved headphone jack. If it removed a charging port then iPhone afficionados would have no choice but to join the wireless revolution. Think then too of convenient wireless charging pads being integrated into our desks, at cafes, on trains, planes and automobiles. Would that then give us the confidence to travel without carrying our own charging pads and cables? It would certainly be a decisive move in that direction. Particularly if those wireless pads were compatible with every device you own.

The question then, is when? When will technology, and us as consumers, be ready to make that shift. Our entire lives we have been conditioned that all things requiring power will need to plugged in at some point. Letting go of that will take time. Exactly how long that will take remains to be seen (and that says nothing of emerging markets dominated by low-end devices that simply wouldn’t have the technical capabilities or resource to undertake such widespread adoption for an even longer time to come).

For now, a universal charger would be a good start to bridge that future gap. The average consumer buys a phone for its ecosystem and features, not for its charging port;

And unless someone can make a justifiable argument for keeping different connectors (with negligible differentiation value) and generating immense volumes of waste then it seems like common sense, in this instance, for manufacturers to work together for the benefit of both environment and consumer.