For years, the EU Commission has wanted to introduce uniform connections for devices.
Margrethe Vestager and Elzbieta Bienkowska are the EU Commissioners for Competition and the Internal Market. Both are once again bringing the issue of "uniform connections" to the table and want to start an investigation to clarify whether and what further measures are necessary. In extreme cases, a ban could even come into force.
In 2009, an agreement was reached voluntarily between 14 manufacturers and the EU, including Apple. The aim was to achieve standardization by the end of 2011. The following year, the declaration was revised and established USB-C as the industry standard. Over 7 years later, 13 of the manufacturers now use USB, but only Apple has not yet completed the transition. iOS devices still use a Lightning connector, but the charging adapters have a USB input, and the EU does not like that.
Lightning is profitable
As soon as the announced investigation has been carried out, the EU Commission will probably force Apple to switch. Until then, the iGroup will most likely stick with Lightning technology, as this is profitable for the bitten apple. Every accessory marked with the MFI logo earned Apple a fee. The price of such fees can be up to four US dollars, depending on the product.
