The European Union (EU) “lawmakers voted 582-40 in favor of a resolution to spur action by the Commission on a single charging solution for smartphones,” according to AppleInsider.
Two weeks ago EU regulators issued a statement detailing their intention to push for universal phone charger connectors. Regulators had been ‘encouraging’ companies to unify around a single standard for years, but were disappointed those companies had failed to follow through. As a result, they were preparing to push for mandatory measures that would force companies to adopt a single solution.
Apple, in particular, has been vehemently opposed to the measure, as they have the most to lose thanks to their proprietary Lightning connector. With an installed base of some 1.5 billion devices, there’s an entire ecosystem of companies, devices, peripherals and more—all built around the Lightning cable.
Unfortunately for Apple, their arguments do not appear to have made much of a difference. As AppleInsider highlights, the European Parliament may well have had Apple in mind when saying “the use of wireless charging technology entails additional potential benefits such as mitigating e-waste; highlights that many mobile telephones already use wireless charging methods and that fragmentation in this area should be avoided; calls, therefore, on the Commission to take measures to best ensure the interoperability of different wireless chargers with different mobile radio equipment.”
At this rate, it seems likely a future generation of iPhones will be sporting an entirely different type of connector.