“Apple may be forced to drop the Lightning connector for charging the iPad and iPhone in Europe,” Karen Haslam reports for Macworld UK. “A European Parliament’s consumer protection committee has voted to standardize smartphone connectors in a move to reduce waste.”
“As a result it is possible that Apple will have to abandon the Lightning connector at the base of the iPad and iPhone,” Haslam reports. “Brussels is attempting to make every mobile phone use the same charging standard. The micro USB standard seems the most likely winner based on the fact that in 2009 the European standards agency chose it to be the universal port for smartphones, and hence most of Apple’s smartphone competition now use micro USB connectors.”
Haslam reports, “However, Apple sells a Lightning to micro USB connector in the European Union for this reason. Apple’s Lightning to Micro USB Adaptor costs £15… The ruling still needs to be approved by the European Parliament, however, and a new law may well take years to be implemented, by which time there may be a new way to charge devices such as induction.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’ll never happen and, even if it did, Apple could simply throw that Lightning to Micro USB Adaptor adapter into every box sold in Europe, thereby preserving their iOS devices’ Lightning connector advantages.
Related articles:
Apple could be forced to scrap Lightning connector under proposed EU law – September 27, 2013
Quit yer bitchin’ over that Lightning connector, Apple product users have always been on front line of ‘creative destruction’ – September 24, 2012
Apple now selling Lightning to microUSB adapter, but only in Europe – September 17, 2012
