Since the release of the iPhone 5, Apple has used the lightning port as its proprietary charging port and is familiar to all iPhone users worldwide.
However, new legislation proposed by the EU may force Apple to adapt to USB-C for all its future iPhones.
The European Commission will present legislation next month that hopes to establish a common charging port for mobile phones and other electronic devices across the European bloc.
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The suggestion of USB-C appears to be the most common for phones, this type of charging port is already used on the most common Android devices such as those produced by Samsung, Huawei, and Nokia.
In fact, USB-C is already used by Apple for its MacBook line of laptops and new iMac models.
This isn't the first time the EC has tried to implement a common charging port for mobile devices, in 2018 they failed to reach a conclusion on the issue.
At the time, Apple criticised the move.
The company said that forcing this legislation would hurt innovation and create a surge of electronic waste since iPhone users would have to ditch their old chargers for new ones.
Apple has aimed to reduce electronic waste in the past couple of years, one of its most controversial moves was not including a charger in the iPhone 12 lineup last year which they claimed was to reduce electronic waste since most iPhone users already have a lightning port charger.
In 2019 a study found that mobile devices in the EU came with three charging options- half of the devices had a micro-USB connector, 29 per cent had a USB-C port, and 21 per cent were iPhones with Lightning connectors.
The legislation is currently being drafted and it's not clear yet what suggestions will be made, however, last year, European Parliament lawmakers voted in favour of introducing a common charger.
