"Regulators in Brussels have reached a long-awaited agreement that will force companies such as apple to use universal chargers for smartphones and laptops." According to the financial times, the European Commission decided on the 7th local time that it would require all smartphones to be equipped with USB type-C charging interface as early as autumn 2024 to reduce waste. Although this new regulation does not name any enterprises, consumers all over the world understand that currently, only Apple's iPhone among the mainstream smartphone brands adopts the lightning charging interface developed by apple. This decision of the European Union will mainly affect apple and its upstream and downstream industrial chains, a large part of which are located in China**
CNN reported that the European Commission has reached an agreement to configure a series of electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and cameras with the same type-C charging interface. It is expected that the new regulations will be implemented in the autumn of 2024, and the EU will become the first region in the world to unify mobile phone charging interfaces. The EU said that the unified charging interface would help consumers save about 250million euros a year.
Almost all the reports mentioned that Apple The company will be the smartphone manufacturer most affected by this change. Its iphone Lightning charging interface is still used, and almost all new mobile phones of other mainstream brands, including Huawei, Samsung, Xiaomi, etc., have used type-C interface. A report from the European Union shows that among the new mobile phones sold in 2019, about 18% are equipped with lightning charging interface, about 44% use type-C, and 38% use the older USB micro-b interface.
Sunyongjie, an independent ICT commentator, told the global times on the 10th that, in fact, the apple notebook macbook And some ipad The type-C interface has been adopted. Technically speaking, there is no problem in changing the iPhone interface, but this change will more or less affect its revenue and profits. At the same time, the new EU regulations will also affect Apple's upstream and downstream supply chain enterprises. Sunyongjie mentioned that Apple's lightning data cable and other accessories Many are produced in China, and the business of these manufacturers may need to be adjusted.
According to a recent report released by HNY, a market research company, the mobile charging lines used for consumer electronic products in the world are mainly made in Chinese Mainland, Taiwan, China, Vietnam and the United States. Among the major manufacturers listed in the report, lvlian, pengyuansheng, Pinsheng and Anke are all located in Chinese Mainland. Take lvlian, which recently applied for listing in a shares, as an example. According to its prospectus, in 2021, the company's sales revenue of charging products including data lines reached 788million yuan. The reporter of the global times sent an interview email to the green Union on the 10th, asking about the impact of the new EU regulations on the enterprise. However, as of the press time, no reply has been received.
According to the report released by the Market Research Institute counterpoint research, in 2021, Apple's market share in the European smartphone market reached 26%, second only to Samsung. Mr. Xu, a Chinese who has lived in Paris for many years, told the global times that the most common local brands are apple and Samsung. Chinese, overseas students and some local people will choose Chinese brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi and oppo. "Although popular, people often roast is expensive and fragile." according to Mr. Xu, the price of Apple lightning data line is generally more than 10 euros, while most of the type-C data lines used by other mobile phones are only 6.99 euros or 7.99 euros.
"The higher cost of Apple data lines produced by third-party manufacturers is partly due to the need to pass Apple MFI certification, and this certification and testing fee income is also one of the reasons why Apple is unwilling to give up the lightning interface." sunyongjie analyzed that the new EU regulations are basically a foregone conclusion, and apple is unlikely to give up such a large market as Europe, which is likely to change.
As for whether other countries and regions, including China, will follow the EU's unified mobile phone charging interface, sunyongjie said it still needs to be observed.
The reporter of the Global Times noted that at the beginning of this year, Ding Lei, member of the CPPCC National Committee and CEO of Netease, advocated vigorously promoting the integration of charging interface technology in a proposal, which is conducive to reducing e-waste and improving resource utilization efficiency. In its reply to the proposal, the Ministry of industry and information technology said that the current smart terminal market is dominated by usb-c (i.e. USB type-C) interfaces, and a variety of interfaces and charging technologies coexist. After the user changes the equipment, most of the original chargers and data cables are idle, causing huge waste. In the next step, we will continue to promote the formulation of relevant national standards, promote the integration and unification of charging interfaces and technologies, and improve the recycling rate of electrical and electronic products.