Cable connectors have long been a bone of contention around the world. But a new EU standard will settle the debate and David Meyer is happy with the decision.

The recent agreement by the European Union to standardise on one connector — USB-C — for the wired charging of all portable devices seems to have sparked a chorus of critics, particularly online.

I’ve thoroughly researched what the action proposes, and why, leading me to think it’s actually a great thing…with some caveats. It should ultimately be a good thing for integrators too, which inspired me to want to write about it here.

Let’s start with a recap. The EU’s new obligations have been a long time coming and are still subject to the European Parliament and European Council passing it into law. If passed (and it is expected to, later this year) then it will mean that come November 2024, all new wired chargers and devices will need to interface via a USB-C port. This includes USB charging blocks, phones, tablets, wireless headphones, handheld gaming consoles, e-readers, cameras, portable speakers, etc, “regardless of their manufacturer”.

So instead of featuring any one of the current mix of USB-A, micro-USB, Lightning, or USB-C connectors for the charging port, they will all need to be USB-C only.

Yeah, but that’s Europe, so how does this mandate affect us here in Australia and New Zealand? Well, Europe is such a huge, collective market that it generally wouldn’t be viable for a manufacturer to make a USB-C version for one market and something else for others, especially smaller markets like ours, so it will inevitably become the norm here too.

The EU’s motivation for the move is two-fold:

• To reduce e-waste. According to the European Parliament, “disposed of and unused chargers are estimated to represent about 11,000 tonnes of e-waste annually”.
• “To make consumers’ lives easier”.

Just looking in my own home, my phone uses Lightning, my iPad is USB-C, and my e-reader has micro-USB. Sure, they can all interface with the same USB-A power block, but it means having a bunch of different cables. USB-A is old-tech and somehow manages to be the only port in the world with three orientations — try it one way, doesn’t fit. Turn it over and try the other way, still doesn’t go in. Return to the original position and bingo. Every time that seems to happen… am I alone?

Furthermore, the amount of power available through USB-A is all over the place. USB standards state 500mA (2.5W) for USB 2.0, and 900mA (4.5W) for USB 3.0. When used as a dedicated charging port (DCP) this rises to 1.5A for a potential 7.5W. It takes proprietary technology to literally amp-up the humble USB-A port, such as with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge (QC) that can commonly supply up to 12 watts of managed power through QC 3.0, as used by Apple and many Android phones manufacturers.

But even then, quality amongst all USB chargers varies enormously, with them being a leading source of noise feeding back into AC power. This can have negative implications on the performance of other devices in the home and is such a big problem that the cumulative harmonics can even be measured on the grid by power companies!

So why USB-C? Simply because it ticks every box. It’s really small, fits securely, and is reversible in orientation, making it entirely user friendly. Apple fans will say that Lightning is too, which is totally true, but it’s very limited in both power and data capacity, much like USB 2.0, but of course functions in a closed ecosystem.

USB-C, on the other hand, is the veritable Doctor Who’s TARDIS of connectors, cramming an astonishing amount of capability into a tiny connector — USB4 for up to 40 Gbps data transfer, Thunderbolt up to 40 Gbps, an alt mode for DisplayPort up to 8K/60, and up to a whopping 100W of managed power with device handshake, and all in an industry-unified standard.

The EU authorities add that standardising USB-C will: “also ensure charging speed is ‘harmonised’ for devices that support fast charging.”

In the intro I mentioned some caveats, at least as I see them. These have to do with manufacturers — bear with me here. As a former cable manufacturer myself, I’ve invested an enormous amount of time over the years in the minute engineering details of cable connectors and their functions. And I’ve always been borderline obsessed with the need for transparency and education.

Admittedly, most of that experience pertained to HDMI, the connectors of which in the broader market have received more than their share of criticism for often not staying in the socket properly!

But therein lies my point.

A little-known fact is that, by specification, the HDMI connector has amongst the tightest tolerances of any connector out there; as little as +0.05/-0.01 mm. It should fit brilliantly. So why were they so commonly loose-fitting, especially in the early days, calling for user demands for locking mechanisms to ensure they stay put?

Well, because of poor engineering and manufacturing. Putting a latch on a weak connector makes less sense than just making the connector properly in the first place. I guess what I’m trying to say is to not be too quick in blaming the spec/standard, as what we experience as consumers and/or integrators comes down to how a given spec is implemented and resulting products manufactured. And then what information we’re given to work with.

Fast forward to 2022, and the biggest challenges with HDMI are not so much the connectors, but its vast range of features and capabilities. This can be the cause of angst and confusion when trying to navigate compatibility among devices and interconnects.

This is a key point, because it’s exactly the argument being applied by opponents to the EU’s agreement regarding USB-C. They say USB-C has so many capabilities and power levels that consumers can’t possibly navigate them, and labelling may be insufficient or unclear. The result? Consumers may inadvertently use a wrong product; it may not work as expected and ultimately lead to a poor user experience and more e-waste as replacement products are sought.

They too may have a point.

However, I counter this by saying that such confusion and varying power standards already persist, made even less user-friendly by having four different connectors. Streamlining to one connector must surely help to simplify, even if not absolute?

So, the aforementioned caveats, at least as I see them, are:

• The need for USB-C chargers to be of an overall very good quality,
• Information and labelling needs to be clear about product suitability,
• To reduce e-waste means making fewer chargers and less redundancy, so manufacturers would need to follow Apple’s lead in omitting the charger from the box of new devices, otherwise there’s effectively no reduction and the whole effort is moot.

If these eventuate, then the vision of user simplicity will follow. The forced transition to USB-C will inevitably spill over from portable devices to all sorts of other low-voltage devices too, meaning USB-C will be the go-to DC power source for integrators. Hey, it could even provide enough power for lights and televisions, but we’ll just have to wait and see if that gets utilised.

Fewer, higher quality power supplies would hopefully also lead to less noise in household power — a win all round for technology systems around the home.

The cynic in me says this could be a panacea with rainbows and unicorns. But I’m an optimist at heart, and the highly distilled geek in me long ago nominated USB-C as my favourite connector (yeah, seriously, who has a favourite connector?).

But all things considered, I do feel the EU has taken a big step in the right direction. Do you agree?