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EU law mandating universal chargers for devices comes into force
(www.france24.com)
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this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2024
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My only concern with this law, is that what happens when USBC is no longer the best option. Idk how to express what I’m saying but what if USB-G ends up being 1000x as fast. Does this law allow for chargers to evolve and if so, how? I admit I haven’t looked into this but I’ve been wondering about it.
I’m 99% wireless these days so I wouldn’t be surprised if chorded chargers are largely on their way out, but I’m still curious.
Manufacturers are allowed to add supplementary charging standards on top of USB-C PD, and the commission is required to review the landscape every 5 years to see if a new technology is better than USB-C that should be adopted in the future
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.L_.2022.315.01.0030.01.ENG&toc=OJ%3AL%3A2022%3A315%3ATOC
Awesome! I knew by commenting someone educated would come along. Thank you very much.
It's like when I make it rain or snow by washing my vehicle! I'm giving you part of the credit for it being future-focused...
⛈️
And they're using recommendations from the USB consortium, which is comprised of all the large manufacturers in the world, so it should always be up to date during the review process.
Controversial opinion: I wish this wasn't the case. So many different proprietary protocols, most of the time you'll still need a specific adapter, and in some cases even a proprietary cable to utilize the full speed, and nowadays most devices come without the adapter.
And there's even PPS in the PD spec allowing to request for a specific voltage rather than something in an existing list.
But I do also have some personal grievances here:
Mi TurboCharge - This may be something based on PD, but still being something separate. I don't know, but I do know it requires more pins than USB-A has. 5 pins. Somewhere I read this is connected to a CC pin in the USB-C connector. But no, they did not use USB-C, they used USB-A, with an extra pin. Only shortly before the phone died I finally figured out why it wasn't charging as fast as expected - I wasn't using their proprietary cable.
My current phone's interference (?) with Qualcomm QC 2.0 - Somehow when using a cable with non-perfect connection on QC-compatible adapters, when I move the USB-A connector, it starts triggering 12V mode until it finally shows overvoltage error and slows down to 7W. QC 2.0 is how my USB tester identifies it. This is a MediaTek-based device, so I don't think it would support QC. The original adapter uses PD and some 11V 6A thing with unknown protocol. Perhaps that is where the problem originates, I don't know what data it sends down. But testing with OTG adapter on the original brick it seems the protocol needs the extra pins of USB-C to work properly.
I've had 3 phones that supported some fast charging, so far 2 of them made it into a confusing mess. Had they all used just PD it would have been a better experience.
From Annex Ia of directive:
USB-C doesn't have speeds, it's just a connector type. USB 1, 2, 3-3.2, 4 etc. is the protocol responsible for speed. You can have a USB-C connector with any implementation (except maybe USB 1). It can even do DisplayPort stuff.
So for USB-C to become irrelevant we need to come up with a better connector form factor. Which is unlikely to happen soon. But also, same thing happened with USB-B Micro connector (colloquially called micro USB), it was designated as a standard (but Apple managed to get an exemption) and manufacturers had no issues moving to a better connector, which is USB-C.
On the downside, you can’t tell what the port supports by just looking at it.
Even with this graphic, I still don't know what they support. Is circle-20 also 20gbps? What is the speed when there's no number? Do the non-DP ones not support displays at all? And there appears to be no such thing as USB4-DP?
And good luck getting your grandmother to identify any of this over the phone. "Is it marked SS-subway diagram-20, or circle-20-subwaydiagram? Yes it's etched gray on slightly different gray, go put on your strongest glasses first, grandma."
Also, who's at reading distance from a USB port half the time? Sometimes they're on the front of a device, but they're just as often hidden behind something or in a hard-to-reach place. Monitors and PCs come to mind.
It's not like they're going to change when you're not looking.
My phone doesn't have any kind of marking anywhere on it so I'm guessing it's USB DP
Googling for it, my phone (pixel 9 pro fold) has USB 3.2, so it shouldn't be able to drive a DP display
What I don't understand is what was wrong with mini-USB.
Too thick? Just why do people want a portable computer to be thinner that their wallet, or their notebook, or their damned pen, or that Snickers bar in their pocket which nobody made thinner. Who the hell told them that "miniaturization being the future of tech" has anything to do with the box inside which that tech is mounted being just a bit thinner? I mean, were it thin enough to put computers into printed magazine pages, maybe (I think I've read that someone did this, with a computer kinda as powerful as ZX Spectrum). Why do they specifically need it? Not to appear "modern", but really?
The question is, because for me personally mini-USB was very convenient. It held well, was easy enough to stick the right way (and not ruin it trying to stick it the wrong way).
Now, I guess USB-C is fine if it can do the same and go both ways. I actually like it, except RPi 4 is the only device I have needing it.
It's just ... how can one try so many connector types for one group of standards?..
If I were to guess, it would be the additional pins. USB-C PD is capable of decent power transfer while also having enough data transfer capability simultaneously. USB-C docks are a good example, seeing that you can hook up a display, charger, other USB devices, ethernet, etc and have it all go through a single cable and (compact, convenient) connector. The reversibility is an added bonus
Mini-USB sucked, big time. Not so bad as micro, but yea it was bad.
The main advantage of C over all previous versions is that it's reversible, you can't plug it in wrong. The shape is also... "flat"?, so it's easier to fit into the socket, mini had that wavy like thing going on.
My data source is my small kid: he's broken 3 (and counting...) usb-~~mini~~ micro connectors by tugging the charging PS4 controllers, and he has to ask me to connect the cable to charge them, he's unable to do it himself yet. With his tablet, 0 usb-c connectors broken and he can plug it in himself.
I think you guys are taking about micro USB. PS4 controllers have micro, PS3 controllers had mini USB.
They were both equally terrible the only improvement micro had over mini was it was slightly smaller.
Law does not forbid having multiple charging ports.
If you bothered to read the article, you'd notice that the charger was chosen by the manufacturers a decade ago in a summons by the European commission. If Apple had complied to do what they agreed to do back then, this law wouldn't exist. But they got whiny and litigious. So, instead of an at will standardization program, the EU decided to make it mandatory by law, to shut Apple up, and anyone else who wanted to forcibly refuse to comply. The cool thing about European law is that nothing is written in stone. Not even constitutions are considered sacred, unlike in the Americas, and can be changed at any point or amended as long as proper procedures are followed. There's nothing, ever, preventing the EU from calling another commission of tech companies to choose a new charger, if a better one ever shows up.
You should verify this, but I think there is like a consortium of sorts made up of tech companies that pick a standard that they all must follow. So in the future, it’s possible for them to pick a new standard, and then after a transition period everything would be required to switch (though of course you could still continue using old devices, they just can no longer be sold new).
What happens if the better technology is invented by a company not part of that chosen tech club? They get to block it's adoption?
If it's really that much better, it'll be used for other things and catch on, then they'll be a part of the group.