Well the rest of the phone manufacturers settled on mini usb followed by micro usb. Prior to that there were a ton of proprietary phone charger/data cables, so it did help some

The EU luckily didn't put their foot down so phones were allowed to progress from mini-usb over micro-usb to USB-C.

It definitely helped a lot (but Apple still kinda ruined it).

Yeah, I was thinking that getting stuck on micro-USB for an years or decades would have been a less than happy outcome.

Not quite sure what to think of USB-C yet. Certainly feels more mechanically solid than micro-USB, but subjectively, the plug connection seems a bit slippery. Cables seem to disconnect spontaneously more than they do with e.f. Lightning.

> Yeah, I was thinking that getting stuck on micro-USB for an years or decades would have been a less than happy outcome.

It would have been wonderful.

It seems like every time a connector starts to reach the critical mass of adoption where I actually have a reasonable ecosystem of chargers and cables and devices, they go ahead and change it - usually for the worse. mini-USB was great - I had phones, accessories, the lot with it. Then they changed it for the weaker and more symmetrical looking (but still not symmetrical) micro-USB and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth - but it was was still simple and functional and is now ubiquitous again. If we had stayed there I could have dealt with it, despite the odd annoyance - for a brief, shining moment, I could charge my phone at my friend's house and vice versa. Now with USB-C it's all gone to shit again:

- I have a new phone that charges over USB-C - but only fast charges with the included adapter, which looks like a regular USB-A wall adapter + A->C plug but actually has some proprietary magic in it. Something about "unusual fast charging standards".

- My laptop came with a USB-C charger but the plug failed after some months, its microscopic contacts losing their spring.

- Needing a new charger because soldering a USB-C connector is quite daunting, I bought an Apple wall charger because it uses a replaceable cable. I discovered later that the cable is apparently nonstandard and incredibly expensive. I bought an unbranded one, at no small cost.

- The unbranded USB-C to USB-C cable failed again after some months. I bought an official Apple cable, to even more considerable expense. That worked, until the port on the laptop died. The laptop sits dead for now.

- Since I now have a 85W USB-C charger lying around, I thought I'd try it on my new phone. But if I plug the Apple adapter into the phone it makes very loud and alarming capacitor noises, especially when full - enough to wake me up in the middle of the night when it gets to 100% (and it takes until the middle of the night, because it doesn't fast charge).

This is a shitshow. Give me back my micro-USB. Yes it's annoying to insert, but at least they last more than a few months, have a single standard, can be soldered, and don't fry devices.

>- I have a new phone that charges over USB-C - but only fast charges with the included adapter, which looks like a regular USB-A wall adapter + A->C plug but actually has some proprietary magic in it. Something about "unusual fast charging standards".

USB-PD is standardized. Don't blame USB if the manufacturer decides to not implement it.

>- Since I now have a 85W USB-C charger lying around, I thought I'd try it on my new phone. But if I plug the Apple adapter into the phone it makes very loud and alarming capacitor noises, especially when full - enough to wake me up in the middle of the night when it gets to 100% (and it takes until the middle of the night, because it doesn't fast charge).

It#s not entirely unusual that cheaper charging circuits start to humm in the audible range if far under their designed output power.

In my experience, it depends on the cable. Some cables feel much better and don't come off as easily as others.

Also ports. First MacBook Pro ports sucked and weren't firm at all. New ones are great. Some connectors are actually too hard to push in.

More than slippery, I think simply some ports (ie the Pixels) are looser than others.

Why does the EU actually have a say here? Is this really that important that government should be involved? Don’t like Apple chargers, don’t buy them.

A government is involved, because it is fairly obvious that Apple and others are not going to take the initiative themselves. A revamp of the regulation on a common charger will help reduce considerable amount of electronic waste, which will ultimately have a positive impact on the environment.

How is having a government-mandated charging port going to have a positive environmental impact, other than by having a mandate which forces everyone to stick with their current connectors and stop adopting new ones?

There is likely to be a grace period involving a pragmatic discussion, before any regulation is passed. It will revolve around adoption of USB-C as a common standard moving forward, rather than the knee-jerk reaction you are proposing. The Commission's powers are subject to strict limits when adopting 'Delegated acts' which cannot change the essential elements of the law and must define objectives, content, scope and duration of the delegation of power. In any event, the Parliament and Council may revoke the delegation or express their objections.

Thanks for the feedback, didn't intend to come across as knee-jerk. Its just that the idea of obsoleting every existing charger doesn't seem very environmentally friendly.

Because these businesses are doing business in the EU, hence they are under EU jurisdiction when doing so. We're not all the US.