Apple confirms iPhone is getting USB-C connector

US technology company Apple has confirmed that it will switch to the USB Type C connector to its iPhone per the European Union’s regulations requiring all phones sold in its member countries use the connector for charging and data transfer.

The European parliament on October 5 passed the reform which takes effect in 2024, and on Tuesday, the multinational for the first time confirmed that it will have to comply with this new regulation although it disagrees with it.

Apple’s Senior Vice President of Marketing Greg Joswiak, speaking at Wall Street Journal’s WSJ Tech Live event, said Apple will comply with EU’s ruling without giving further details.

Currently, Apple the Lightning connector which it introduced almost 10 years ago as its primary connector for most of its devices, including the iPhone, the iPad, and Airpods.

According to Joswiak, Apple believes it has struck a balance by using a type of cable that you can disconnect from the power brick, meaning one side can have Lightning and the other can have whichever sort of connector is most convenient for the user, such as USB-C or USB-A.

“…we got to a better place which is power adaptors with detachable cables. All of them being USB-A or USB-C and you choose the cable which is appropriate for your device. That allowed over a billion people to have that (lightning) connector and to be able to use what they have already and not be disrupted and cause a bunch of e-waste,” Joswiak said.

Joswiak said that the EU and Apple have been tangled “in this little bit of a disagreement” about the common charger regulation, terming it a tricky thing to regulate.

He said that the EU lawmakers once tried to standardise on the now-outdated micro-USB connector, which Apple was also opposed to.

In recent products such as the latest iPad, Apple has introduced USB-C port.

Bloomberg reports that the company is planning to switch to USB-C with the iPhone 15 that is expected to be launched next year.