Whose business is behind the opposition to the unification of charging ports?
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In the era of intelligence, e-waste brought by related smart products is surging. According to the United Nations, in 2021, an average of 7.6 kilograms of e-waste will be generated per person. This means that 57.4 million tons of e-waste will be generated globally in 2021, surpassing the weight of the largest man-made structure on Earth, the Great Wall of China, for the first time . In this context, "throttling" has become a major issue in cracking down on e-waste pollution.
On June 7, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached the world's first policy agreement to unify mobile phone, tablet and camera mobile charging interfaces. By the fall of 2024, all the above-mentioned products in the EU will use the Type-C interface uniformly. For Android manufacturers who have already completed the popularization of Type-C, this regulation is irrelevant, and Apple has to face the cancellation of the Lightning interface that has been used for the past ten years in Europe.
In fact, the unified charging interface is not only a technical problem, but there are many games of commercial interests behind it. It is destined to be a long and long-term road to unify the charging interface for environmental protection purposes.
The unification of Type-C
In order to unify the charging standard for mobile devices, the European Commission has made a long-term effort. In 2009, the committee brokered a voluntary agreement within the industry, with leading manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, Huawei and Nokia signing the first memorandum of understanding. With this memo, the types of mobile phone interfaces on the market have been significantly reduced, from 30 at the time to three today - Type-C, Lightning and microUSB.
The reason is that from the perspective of environmental protection, different data/charging interface standards will easily lead to waste of resources. When users switch between Android and Apple, they must purchase a new data cable . In addition to the charging interface, there are also situations where various chargers cannot be shared, resulting in almost everyone having multiple chargers on hand, and even some accessories purchased online will be given as a gift.
An assessment by the European Commission showed that half of the mobile phones sold in the EU market in 2018 had micro USB ports, 29% were Type-C ports, and 21% were Lightning ports. In 2020, around 420 million mobile phones and other mobile electronic devices were sold within the EU. The average consumer owns about three cell phone chargers. Still, 38% of consumers said they had experienced charger compatibility issues and couldn't find the right plug to charge their phone.
For consumers, this is not only inconvenient, but also expensive. The total annual cost of purchasing chargers in the EU market alone is as high as 2.4 billion euros (about 17.9 billion yuan). Additionally, end-of-life or idle chargers generate up to 11,000 tons of e-waste each year.
You must know that these e-wastes have a huge impact on human beings and the environment. If they are not properly disposed of, they will seriously endanger human survival. For example, about 700 kinds of chemical raw materials are needed to make a computer, and more than 300 kinds of them are harmful to human body. Among them, lead can damage the human nervous system, blood system and kidneys, mercury can cause asthma and damage the brain and nerves, cadmium and bromide hinder the Flammables and other ingredients can also induce cancer. It is estimated that a unified charging interface will help people save 250 million euros (about 1.86 billion yuan) in charger expenses every year, reduce 1,000 tons of electronic waste and 180,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.
In fact, the unified interface not only avoids waste from the perspective of environmental protection, but also the Type-C interface currently used in the mainstream does have many advantages: the interface is lighter and thinner, adopts a symmetrical design, and can be inserted on both sides; the highest charging speed supports 5A, power up to 100W, transmission rate up to 10Gbps per second; the expansion function is very powerful, not only can connect external USB devices, but also connect monitors, projectors, etc.
Since its release, the Type-C interface has rapidly become popular in 3C electronics fields such as laptops, Android phones, monitors, and high-end graphics cards, gradually replacing conventional USB interfaces, HDMI and DP interfaces .
Relevant Chinese departments are also actively promoting unified standards for interfaces. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a document stating that it will continue to promote the formulation of national standards related to charging interfaces, and promote the integration and unification of charging interfaces and technologies, which will help reduce electronic waste and improve resource utilization efficiency.
At present, in 3C (computer, communication and consumer electronics) devices, the Type-C interface has become the mainstream charging interface, and is expanding to non-3C devices. Among them, the Android platform has basically completed the unification of the Type-C charging interface, and only the Apple mobile phone is equipped with the Lightning interface. Behind Apple's insistence on the Lightning interface is an economical account that is difficult to give up .
The business story behind the opposition flag
Since the unification of charging standards for mobile devices, Apple has raised the banner of opposition.
As early as 2014, the European Union formulated a radio charging protocol and required Apple to unify the charging interface. At that time, Apple said that this was a stifling of technological innovation and a disguised suppression of high-end enterprises. Therefore, not only did it not replace the charging interface, but it even began to sell its own charging port converter.
Later, in the name of environmental protection, the European Union asked Apple to change the charging interface to Type-C, but Apple refused again on the grounds that the original data line after the unified interface would cause waste. In the end, the EU even asked Apple to pay a fine of $1 billion in order to punish Apple for not replacing the interface, but Apple would rather pay this fine than replace the Type-C interface.
For example, in a feedback letter submitted to the EU in 2019, Apple said that it would work with six other companies to promote the popularization of the new standard. But since the Lightning port used in its mobile devices already has an entire ecosystem with third-party accessory and device makers, the company hopes the new regulations won't force manufacturers to ship unnecessary cables and adapters with their devices, avoiding Europe's Even hundreds of millions of customers around the world generate an unprecedented amount of e-waste due to the "obsolete" equipment and accessories in their hands.
But obviously, not being environmentally friendly is just an excuse for Apple, and not giving up Lighting is just business. After all, the performance of USB Type-C and Lighting is almost an uncontroversial topic . In 2012, when Lightning came out, this interface that can achieve positive and negative blind insertion is still leading, but the upgrade potential of Lightning is very limited. Lightning has barely kept up with the times as devices and adapters have improved.
In terms of charging speed, compared to Lightning, the USB Type-C launched in 2014 has now supported a transfer rate of 40GBbps after multiple generations of USB 3.1-USB 4.0 standard upgrades. After the USB PD 3.1 fast charging protocol takes effect, its The maximum charging power has also been upgraded from the earlier 100W to 240W.
When it comes to data transfer, even the fastest Lightning ports can't keep up with the speed of USB 3.0, and some may only reach USB 2.0. USB 3.0 transfers ten times faster than USB 2.0, with USB 2.0 at 480 Mbps, while USB 3.0 can reach 4.8 Gbps, and many dedicated Type-Cs are 10Gbps. Some USB 3.2 devices now reach 20Gbps, and USB 4 is capped at 40Gbps.
However, with the Lighting interface, Apple can get considerable benefits - the Lighting interface is associated with Apple's multi-billion-dollar Mfi project .
Apple has an MFi certification for its own charging equipment. With this patent, those manufacturers who produce Apple data cables need to pay Apple certification fees in turn. According to the "Daily Economic News" report, Apple will charge the applicant manufacturer a certification fee of more than 2,000 US dollars. If the certification is not passed, the fee will not be refunded and the manufacturer will have to apply for certification again. In other words, Apple has almost achieved "indiscriminate harvesting" of third-party accessory factories through this project.
Compared with the previous one-time fee, the bigger one is the Lightning chip. Apple stipulates that this chip must be purchased from Avnet, a designated IT component distributor. The purchase price of each chip is 2.1 US dollars, which has exceeded the wire of the data cable itself. Cost, plus additional costs such as tariffs and labor, each authorized Lighting data cable will cost 20 yuan higher than ordinary data cables. Not only that, but for Apple, switching to Type-C also means redesigning the product and taking into account the tight supply chain.
However, even if the head iron is like Apple, the unification of Type-C is quietly compromising. In fact, Apple products with Type-C interface have long been available in China, such as the fourth-generation iPad Air released by Apple on September 16, 2020. According to the official website of Apple (China), the 11-inch iPad Pro, 12.9-inch iPad Pro (third, fourth, and fifth generation), iPad mini (sixth generation), and iPad Air (fifth generation) have also adopted the Type-C interface. In addition, Apple's other iPad series products use the lightning interface.
In addition, Apple has quietly listed two previously rumored 35W dual Type-C port chargers on its official website. Both chargers are priced at 399 yuan, but the charging cable needs to be purchased separately by consumers. The charger supports iPhone 8/iPhone 8 Plus and above, all Apple Watch series, iPad mini 5/6, iPad 7/8/9, iPad Air 3/4/5, 11-inch iPad Pro, 12.9-inch iPad Pro, etc.
Electronic environmental protection has a long way to go
Undeniably, the move to unify the interface of electronic products would be a good example of experimentation - requiring manufacturers to adopt user-friendly standardized designs may increase obsolescence due to product iteration, or reduce consumer satisfaction due to unified interfaces. The frequency of product replacement can reduce waste, but there is still a long way to go to achieve the environmental protection goals of electronic equipment.
On the one hand, from the perspective of the technology itself, the same Type-C also has different standards. Even Android, although it is called Type-C, has a power size. Various mobile phone manufacturers have developed their own unique fast charging technology, and fast charging power of more than 50W can be found everywhere. Xiaomi has reached 50W power, and the Extreme Commemorative Edition has soared to 120W. Vivo and OPPO have also achieved 120W and 125W fast charging technologies respectively. As long as the chip of the charging head and the electronic device support each other, the agreement can be reached to achieve fast charging. Although chargers with different fast charging powers can be mixed, but it is not necessary-for devices that cannot be matched, fast charging technology will not reflect the value.
This means that if we want to unify the interface type as Type-C, we also need to unify the fast charging standard. Although this policy is the most popular among consumers, it is still unknown whether major electronics manufacturers can follow suit – mobile phone brands In actual operation, it often only supports the minimum PD charging. At the same time, it vigorously develops a high-power private system under its own control, so as to establish its own technology and patent barriers on the basis of PD, and create its own ecology.
The reason, or interest dictates. Android's internal development of fast charging technology is to achieve invisible bundled sales. After all, since you have to buy accessories, of course, the original is better, and in order to make the original more weighty, you can only work on the technical barriers of charging speed. Therefore, although the industry reached an agreement under the initiative of the European Union ten years ago, the number of chargers has been reduced from 30 to 3, but the major electronics manufacturers have tried their best to establish their own technical barriers.
Not only that, but in practical applications, the Type-C format used by different devices is also very different: the Type-C cable that comes with the headset can only be used to charge the headset, and even data cannot pass through; The Type-C cable can transmit data and charge, but only supports a rate of 10Gbps and a power of 5W; the Type-C cable with the monitor can run at a rate of 20Gbps, but can only provide a maximum power of 65W to the computer, and the linear speed of the hard disk array Although fast, it cannot be used as a passive line of lightning. Even if a Type-C cable is functionally functional, there is no guarantee that it will work between any two Type-C devices due to the different formats.
On the other hand, the EU proposal for a unified charging interface is not the only way to reduce e-waste, there are many different ways to achieve this goal. Compared with the European Union, the United States has adopted a non-mandatory method - the Environmental Assessment Tool for Electronic Products, which is a certification system led by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and formulated with the participation of industry stakeholders. recyclability and life cycle to evaluate their designs.
Eco-friendly designs that use recyclable materials or make products easy to service are more EPEAT-approved. Many U.S. agencies—including the federal government, universities, businesses, and municipalities—use EPEAT as a purchasing standard, requiring purchased electronics to meet a certain level of certification. So even though this is a voluntary mechanism, manufacturers are still under commercial pressure to get involved and design more environmentally friendly products. Of course, the management of waste electronic products is extremely complex, and no policy can be done once and for all .
For people, the unification of charging interfaces could be a positive, for better or worse, at least a step towards the circular economy goal of electronics.