Apple May Have to Ditch Its Lightning Cable to Conform to Standard Charger in the EU

It seems that Apple's argument for why it should keep its lightning cable, rather than switching over to one of the two USB standards used by everyone else, has fallen on deaf ears.

The EU has been pushing for a standardised single charger for mobile phones for over a decade, and despite Apple's protests last week that such a move would "restrict the industry’s ability to innovate,” the EU is moving ahead regardless.

The resolution – approved by 582 votes to 40 – sees the European Parliament calling for the European Commission to come up with tougher rules surrounding e-waste by July, 2020. That includes getting Apple to fall in line by ditching its proprietary lightning cable which has arguably created even more e-waste with not only having a third cable on the market that only its own products use, but also flogging Lighting to Micro USB adaptors in Europe.

Apple's argument was rebuffed by the parliament who said:

"The Commission, without hampering innovation, should ensure that the legislative framework for a common charger will be scrutinised regularly in order to take into account technical progress; reiterates the importance of research and innovation in this domain to improve existing technologies and come up with new ones."

It also weighed in on wireless chargers too, so they're not confined to a single brand or device type. Basically, the short version is consumers shouldn't have to fork out for a million different cables to charge up their shit. And Apple needs to get on board. [9to5Mac]