European ban on Lightning port on iPhones one step closer

The ban for Apple to only put a Lightning charging port on iPhones in Europe is one step closer. A committee of the European Parliament voted in favor of the proposal. The entire European Parliament will vote on it next month.

With the almost unanimous agreement of the committee dealing with this subject, it is likely that the European Parliament as a whole will also agree to the proposal on standardizing charging techniques. When the regulations come in, iPhones must either have a USB-C port or not have any charging ports. The Lightning port as the only charging port is then no longer allowed on new models.

The European Parliament also wants a single standard for wireless charging. This concerns new charging techniques from 2026, says the European Parliament committee that deals with this topic. The European Commission had already proposed to standardize wireless charging techniques, but that should also apply to laptops in addition to smaller devices, the European Parliament believes. There are few laptops that support wireless charging now, but that may change in the future.

The European Parliament’s Consumer Protection Committee passed the proposal almost unanimously, with 43 votes in favor and 2 against. That proposal has been in the works for some time. After a vote in Parliament next month, the European Commission will enter into discussions with member states about the precise text of the regulation, after which it can take effect.

iPhone X with USB-C