by Rebecca Walker — January 12, 2011—In a move that should cut down on cell phone-related e-waste and make phone-charging simpler, the European Union has developed standards for universal phone chargers that more than a dozen companies have agreed to follow.
In 2009, the European Commission called on the mobile phone industry to voluntarily agree to make phones that will work with a universal charger, so that legislation would not be necessary to force the issue.
In the middle of that year, major phone companies like Apple, Nokia, RIM, Samsung and Sony Ericsson agreed to make phones that would all work with chargers with micro-USB connectors.
The standards, which apply only to smartphones (or “data-enabled” phones), were released in late December by the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
Phone makers can still have non-standard plugs in phones as long as they create adaptors that would work with universal chargers.
Making all future phones compatible with the same charger should make a dent in charger production and phone-related e-waste, since people would likely be able to hold onto a single charger over the life spans of multiple phones. It should also make charging a phone simpler by allowing people with different phones to use one another’s chargers.
Phone manufacturers would also not have to include a charger with each new phone, possibly reducing the costs of phones or at least keeping them from increasing much.
The first phones that meet the new standards are expected in the coming weeks.
The companies that have agreed to implement the standards are Apple, Atmel, Emblaze Mobile, Huawei Technologies, LGE, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, RIM, Samsung, SonyEricsson, TCT Mobile and Texas Instruments.
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