World News

409 readers

594 users here now

Rules:

Be a decent person
No spam
Add the byline, or write a line or two in the body about the article.

founded 2 months ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

304

USB-C charging ports become standard across EU Saturday (timesofmalta.com)

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

48 comments fedilink hide all child comments

All mobile phones, tablets, earphones and a wide range of other portable consumer electronics will need to be sold with USB-C charging ports from Saturday, the EU has announced.

First introduced around a decade ago, USB-C charging ports are reversible and capable of accelerated data transfer and charging speeds, the latter known as 'fast charging’.

In a statement on Friday, the European Parliament said that as of the following day, all such devices sold in the EU must have a USB-C charging port, with laptops set to follow suit in late April 2026.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] manualoverride 1 points 3 days ago

A few years ago I decided to make sure everything I purchased was USB-C where possible. Items I have that I can think of:

Philips Sonicare toothbrush case - only works with USBA to C cable.
BlockBlueLight hexagon night light - only charges with the cable supplied USBA to C.
air mattress (random Amazon brand) inflator has USB c charger that will not charge anything but does allow the inflator to work, no power bank or USB-C charger works.
I have several “non-iQ” chargers with random incompatibility between Samsung and Apple devices.
A tennis racket style electric fly swatter works with some chargers and not others
USB-C IR camera which works on android but not on new iPhones due to some power pin incompatibility.
I have a drawer full of USB-C cables with various ratings up to 140w, have to select the correct one for the application.

It may be just that these are all pre-EU unifying the standards, but there is enough USB-C e-waste in my house that I purchased in good faith that USB-C means it’s compatible, but it isn’t.