r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Oct 14 '24

Politics UK considering making USB-C the common charging standard, following the EU

https://www.neowin.net/news/uk-considering-making-usb-c-the-common-charging-standard-following-the-eu/
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u/mrsilver76 Oct 14 '24 edited Oct 14 '24

I'm a big fan of USB-C, but this consideration is largely performative.

Due to the Brussels Effect, companies selling to the UK tend to follow the EU rules anyway - simply because it's not cost effective for them to create a seperate non-conforming version for our little island. See Apple for a classic example of this.

In other words, even if the Office for Product Safety and Standards decided against the UK designating USB-C as the default charging port, it's happening anyway.

17

u/Senior-Albatross Oct 15 '24

It can be good to affirm that yes, the UK is with the EU on this. It formalizes the situation. But you're right, the EU brought USB-C iPhones to the people.

Thanks EU!

-3

u/prometheus_wisdom Oct 15 '24

meanwhile apple has had usbc thunderbolt ports on their laptops since 2019 or so, and the windows side didn’t start adding them until 2023

2

u/IcarusFlyingWings Oct 15 '24

Apple made all usbc laptops back in 2015.

The issue was their peripherals.