Greg Joswiak, SVP of the company, claimed that Apple was forced to abide by the new regulation.
It was very clear which company would be most impacted by the mandate when the European Parliament voted in favor of establishing USB-C the regional charging standard. Apple, naturally. The tech giant’s iPad models already have USB-C connectors, but its iPhones still use a lightning connector. Greg Joswiak, Apple’s SVP of worldwide marketing, has now stated that the tech giant will switch to USB-C connectors in order to comply with the EU rule in an interview at the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event.
“We’ll have to comply, of course.” When asked whether Apple is switching to USB-C by WSJ Senior Personal Technology Columnist Joanna Stern, Joswiak gave a response. Let’s first discuss the company’s history with regulatory compliance, such as how it had to develop its own solution because the available technology at the time was ineffective in order to make its phones compatible with hearing aids.
Joswiak also discussed how, ten years ago, the EU pushed for the adoption of micro-USB. Apple made cables detachable so that consumers may quickly swap out cables because the EU was concerned that people would need to have multiple adapters with various connectors. The CEO claimed that by making the change, more than a billion consumers were able to keep using their lightning cables rather than discarding them and creating “a load of e-waste.”
“We have no choice as we do around the world but to comply to local laws,” Joswiak said.
He omitted, however, to mention whether Apple is continuing to sell phones with lightning ports elsewhere while just producing a new model for the European market. He added that Apple believes that “not having a government be that prescriptive” would have been better for the environment and its customers.
Apple previously justified its decision to stop including power adapters with new iPhones by citing environmental concerns. The IT company claimed that since more iPhones can fit in shipping containers, doing so will save 861,000 tons of metal and also fuel. However, not everyone agreed with the company’s justification, and Apple has received fines in Brazil on multiple occasions for leaving adapters out of iPhone packaging.
Under the end of 2024, Apple will be required by the new EU mandate to supply iPhones and iPads in the region with USB-C connections.
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