UK Considers Adopting USB-C as Common Charging Standard

[jlc1978]

I would, though, appreciate the price being lower as the manufacturer does not have to include a charger, saving on cost of charger, packaging and distribution costs.

Not likely since consumers are already paying x so lowering it makes no business sense; better to just enjoy the windfall. It's like when Apple lowered fees to 15% for small developers you didn't see prices drop as a result.

I have drawer full of USB-C Cables that work with some devices but not others, even though the packaging claims the cable is up to spec.

Actually, the probably are, given the flexibility of the usb spec; I suspect USB really means Usually Standard Bus.

Very simple companies should be required to add a voucher to the box that says "Exchange this for a € 20 discount or a charger for your product with a minimum wattage of XX WATT and XX Volt" (to be specified by the manufacturer).

Which negates the whole ewaste solution since most people would get a charger, whether they needed it or not to avoid "losing" money.

 

[Superhai]

We will end up still using usb-c in 2040.......

USB-A was created 1996, USB-C 2014, so maybe there will be a USB-D in 2032. It is now 2024, and USB-C is finally becoming ubiquitous, so it is pretty safe to say that we will use USB-C in 2040 with or without government intervention, unless something special happens.

 

[timber]

I'm not British but why bother?

Let the EU get the hate and do the lifting and take the easy pickings.

How about a single standard plug for EV’s?

We already have a standard plug for EVs in the EU.

 

[SanderEvers]

Yeah, no way.
Your idea sounds easy and beneficial from the customers perspective, but would mean a whole lot of overhead validating vouchers, balancing purchases, legal issues with shops not accepting the voucher because of the overhead, etc.
Just because phones came with a charger in the past does not mean this cannot change. A lot of other devices don't come with bundled chargers, most of my smart home devices don't.
I understand the argument that for the high price of an iPhone, people (especially those active here in the forum) currently expect to not pay extra for a charging brick, but that's exactly what the EU wants to change, so there will be less unneeded/unused chargers produced, distributed, and sent to landfills eventually.

It's very simple:

1. Require each manufacturer to offer the voucher. These vouchers are government mandated so also governemnt controlled.

2. With this voucher you go to usbcharger.com (or something similar) and enter the unique voucher number. You pay a standard shipping fare and your charger will be in the mail. Or they will wire the 20 euro/etc to your bank account.

and 3. The manufacturer is required to also accept the vouchers they supply. Which would require them to supply you with either a "standard" charger or a charger that's branded. They register the voucher with the website named in 2. so it can't be used again.

Three simple steps.

Also this is not about phones. This is about any device that needs a charger to operate.

 

[Reason077]

USB-C cable can be any of the following...

1. Power Delivery but no data

No, there is no such thing as a USB-C cable that does not support data. USB 2.0 480 Mbps is the minimum baseline for all USB-C cables.

Since a data connection is required to negotiate power delivery over USB-C, it’s impossible to have power delivery without data.

 

[iZac]

Why would they bother?...Seems like pointless bureaucracy

I mean you said it right there, we need to keep the UK economy going with pointless bureaucracy!

 

[krspkbl]

a bit pointless but still a good move. still too many things get shipped with micro usb. we need to kill everything but USB-C off.

they should focus on forcing Apple to open up iOS with side loading and 3rd party app stores just like the EU has done.

 

[polyphenol]

I agree, to think that we in the UK can mandate anything to large tech companies is delusional. If we tried to mandate anything different from the Americans or EU, Google/apple/Samsung would politely tell us to eff off

I think you can add India to that list.

 

[timber]

I think you can add India to that list.

And China of course.

 

[mw360]

Very simple companies should be required to add a voucher to the box that says "Exchange this for a € 20 discount or a charger for your product with a minimum wattage of XX WATT and XX Volt" (to be specified by the manufacturer). And when bought in store or online this purchaser should be allowed to exchange this voucher during the purchase experience. (Or later if they chose for a voucher either physical or digital)

The wattage of the charger should be sufficient to charge the purchased device at max charge speed.

Nah, they can pocket the extra money, I don't care. Our houses are full of USB chargers now. Not getting more single purpose chargers is a lifestyle benefit with a cash value. And especially, I don't want to see any more of those cheap black bricks with the tiny wire that's too short and terminates at a power jack of random diameter and polarity. That needs to end.

 

[SanderEvers]

Nah, they can pocket the extra money, I don't care. Our houses are full of USB chargers now. Not getting more single purpose chargers is a lifestyle benefit with a cash value. And especially, I don't want to see any more of those cheap black bricks with the tiny wire that's too short and terminates at a power jack of random diameter and polarity. That needs to end.

Which would literally all be solved by my solution. The standard charger should be of high quality and have at least the specified wattage. And that wattage should be max rated charging wattage for that device.

So an iPhone charges at 30W at 5V. So the voucher should specify this. With the voucher you can get a standard charger that is high quality and should supply at least 30W at 5V.

And if your house is full of chargers already? Then you get a €20 discount. Problem solved.

 

[jlc1978]

1. Require each manufacturer to offer the voucher. These vouchers are government mandated so also governemnt controlled.

The manufacturer can simply raise the price by the voucher cost and pocket any of the non-used refunds.

Then, of course, you can also raise the costs of chargers, since consumers are already get a voucher discount, so that you make money on each voucher as well.

 

[SpotOnT]

Ha! Like what the UK passes at this point matters.

What a waste of legislative time.

 

[mw360]

Which would literally all be solved by my solution. The standard charger should be of high quality and have at least the specified wattage. And that wattage should be max rated charging wattage for that device.

So an iPhone charges at 30W at 5V. So the voucher should specify this. With the voucher you can get a standard charger that is high quality and should supply at least 30W at 5V.

And if your house is full of chargers already? Then you get a €20 discount. Problem solved.

If you read what the UK government is asking about, clear labelling of power requirements is one of the topics, as is standardised charging performance at the specified wattage.

The problem you are trying to solve is consumers being slightly out of pocket which isn't really a long term concern.

 

[SanderEvers]

The manufacturer can simply raise the price by the voucher cost and pocket any of the non-used refunds.

Then, of course, you can also raise the costs of chargers, since consumers are already get a voucher discount, so that you make money on each voucher as well.

The manufacturer doesn't make the chargers in my solution. So no. They can make chargers, but they can never mandate you buy their chargers. Since the standard charger should have at least the correct power rating.

And sure they could increase the price. (They already do) But the refunds don't come from their profit, but from the VAT / sales tax added to the product. Because I already said; it would be governemnt controlled.

When buying a product you will have 3 choices.
1. Include no charger and no voucher (20 euro discount applied to VAT)
2. Include no charger but include a voucher (no discount, voucher can be exchanged later)
3. Include a charger and no discount. (company branded charger or the standard charger)

If you read what the UK government is asking about, clear labelling of power requirements is one of the topics, as is standardised charging performance at the specified wattage.

The problem you are trying to solve is consumers being slightly out of pocket which isn't really a long term concern.

But then the companies are free to sell you a charger for example 100 euro, because they don't have to offer it with their products. And you still are going to need a charger. Or you will be required to buy a third party charger which, ofcourse, will also be more expensive.


--

A different solution would be to add a "charger tax", you buy the product but pay a flat 20 euro tax if you want a charger to be included with the product. This charger should always be enough to charge the product at the max rated wattage. If you don't want a charger you don't pay the charger tax.

 

[captchasverybadman]

Allowing consumers to purchase devices without chargers
This is already the status quo.
The UK government feigning influence should just rejoin the EU Empire already.

 

[kiranmk2]

Yeah, who's ever gonna make big modifications to their products to sell almost exclusively in the UK like, let's say... right-hand drive cars.

You do know that around one third of the word use right hand drive cars, right?

This seems pointless given the massive EU block next door mandating USB-C already. If we did want to reduce e-waste, perhaps we could mandate labelling on USB-C cables (in the actual cable) specifying the USB-PD and data transfer specifications so people don't end up buying multiple cables.

 

[theluggage]

I'm certainly all for a common standard, just as long as we can keep on improving it and it's not stifled by 'Government'

I'm not the greatest fan of USB-C - but it is designed as a smart-connector that can cope with expansions for the foreseeable future. Since the EU directive, we've already seen updates to USB3.2 (2x10Gbps), USB4 (40Gbps) and the up-and-coming USB4v2/TB5 (80Gbps) on data transfer, and power delivery increased from 100W to 240W - all without changing the connection... and because its a smart connector most chargers and devices are backwards/forwards compatible a 240W charger will still supply 5W to a phone, and, so far as possible, a 15W power supply will still trickle charge a 100W laptop.

Plus, as far as I can tell, the EU directive only applies to "devices that can be charged with a cable" and which fall within the USB Power Delivery limits. It's not going to block developments in wireless charging, solar power, fuel cells etc.

 

[nostradumbass]

I didn't know the UK government was a tech company. Instead of pretending to be one they should do something to house their citizens and give them affordable living standards.

Standardising cables sound neat in practice but fails completely when a new design comes out that is much better and faster than previous designs. You can't have the same number of pins and connector shape indefinitely forever.

 

[ifxf]

So previously we had several different cables/connectors which performed different tasks such as charging, data transfer and video signal.

The proposed solution is to have a single connector but with different cable performing several different tasks such as charging, data transfer and video signal.


USB-C cable can be any of the following...

1. Power Delivery but no data
2. USB 2.0
3. USB 3.1 Gen 1
4. USB 3.1 Gen 2
5. USB 4
6. Thunderbolt 3
7. Thunderbolt 4

I have drawer full of USB-C Cables that work with some devices but not others, even though the packaging claims the cable is up to spec.

If the Gov really wanted to cut down on e-waste then they should impose some kind of quality control on the Cheap Chinese Crap that is flooding the market, but that is too simple!

Whatever happened to not buying cheap cables.

 

[polyphenol]

Very simple companies should be required to add a voucher to the box that says "Exchange this for a € 20 discount or a charger for your product with a minimum wattage of XX WATT and XX Volt" (to be specified by the manufacturer). And when bought in store or online this purchaser should be allowed to exchange this voucher during the purchase experience. (Or later if they chose for a voucher either physical or digital)

The wattage of the charger should be sufficient to charge the purchased device at max charge speed.

The overheads of this approach would be crazy.

Terrible for small companies. Such a company manages to produce a device but before they can sell a single one of them, they have to make arrangements to supply chargers and/or discount/refund vouchers.

Complex when you look at things like USB hubs - many of which have the option to be powered but don't have to be. Do they all have to cost enough to cover the overheads that only some need/want?

International sales become ever more complicated by such an approach. Does value of discount get set in USD? Or converted? Or set for each market? With further difficulties if someone buys a device while away from home but needs to use the discount or voucher in their own country.

And I have zero need or desire to charge my iPhone at full speed. I've never needed to do that and can't imagine a case where I would need to. (Well aware others do require this.)

And whenever a manufacturer is involved in supplying chargers, you end up with little choice over things like colour, whether the cable goes up or down from the charger when plugged in, lengths of cables, etc.

Far, far, easier and better to stop all inclusive chargers when feasible. Though I accept there are slightly special circumstances like MacBook Pro Magsafe charger and the iMac power supply including Ethernet.

 

[doobydoooby]

I agree, to think that we in the UK can mandate anything to large tech companies is delusional. If we tried to mandate anything different from the Americans or EU, Google/apple/Samsung would politely tell us to eff off

I dunno, I doubt a tech giant would deliberately want to ignore 60 million potential customers. But this is just nuts; all they're doing is repeating what's already been achieved elsewhere. Pigs with their snouts in the gravy.

 

[x86dude]

USB-C cable can be any of the following...

1. Power Delivery but no data
2. USB 2.0
3. USB 3.1 Gen 1
4. USB 3.1 Gen 2
5. USB 4
6. Thunderbolt 3
7. Thunderbolt 4

Hang on. It depends if the cable and the port is rated to do those things. A USB-C cable is not going to do Thunderbolt.

Problem is people who should know better (I’m looking st you MR) keep referring to Thunderbolt ports as USB ports.

 

[gphome]

I dunno, I doubt a tech giant would deliberately want to ignore 60 million potential customers. But this is just nuts; all they're doing is repeating what's already been achieved elsewhere. Pigs with their snouts in the gravy.

They will ignore it to the sense of "unless the U.S or EU want this change, we aren't going to do it, you'll need to tell your population if you want to ban them from buying our products". But yes they're just proposing stuff that we're already getting second hand from the EU anyway (iPhone changing to USB-C for example)

 

[gphome]

I think you can add India to that list.

India want to replace China as the Global factory, they won't do anything manufacturing wise that the U.S or EU doesn't want