They did, you don't have to imagine it.
In 2009 they've signed a memorandum of understanding with 14 phone companies, which is why micro-B was the standard before type C. Apple was within those that signed it, and used a loophole in the text to ship a lightning-to-micro-B adapter instead.
Around 2016 they've realised micro-B was outdated and notified the signatories that they should switch to type C.
https://www.macrumors.com/guide/eu-charging-standard-proposa...
> The recent 582-40 parliamentary vote in favor of a common charging standard came about because the European Commission's previous approach of merely "encouraging" tech companies to develop a standardized solution "fell short of the co-legislators' objectives," according to a briefing on the European Parliament website.
The first phones with USB-C came out in 2015. If this MoU was instead binding legislation, those USB-C phones never would not have been allowed.
> To address the challenges for consumers as well as the environment, the Commission has supported a common charging solution for mobile phones and similar electronic devices since 2009. The Commission first facilitated a voluntary agreement by the industry in 2009 that resulted in the adoption of the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and led to reducing the number of existing charging solutions for mobile phones on the market from 30 to 3. Following the Memorandum's expiration in 2014, a new proposal by industry presented in March 2018 was not considered satisfactory in delivering a common charging solution or meeting the need for improved consumer convenience and e-waste reduction.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_...
A shortcoming for _their_ goals. Their goals are at odds with what is best for us. It is a good thing the micro-b MoU did not have any teeth.
If I can charge my laptop with it, it's surely good enough for charging devices with a much smaller battery at least for the next decade or so.
E-waste is a direct consequence of technology progress. We're not still all using 486s. Technology advances, people want that new stuff.
I would wager charging ports are insignificant.
But I wouldn't call it significant, I would call it completely unnecessary. I'd really rather buy one when I need it than get one with every single gadget I buy, which is precisely what the EU is trying to achieve.
It would be another thing if I was on Apple ecosystem.
The only reason to get a new charger is if you need more power, but that’s exactly the same situation as with Android. Where did you get the idea that you had to get new chargers?
But they didn't. These people aren't that dumb, they told companies to settle on a standard, and now that we have a good standard that basically everyone follows they want to make a law to ensure everybody follows it. Bringing up a scenario where they did the right thing and argue "just imagine if they didn't do the right thing here, that would be a problem!" isn't a strong argument.
The new tech would prove itself, somehow, and then the standard changed over after there's evidence that the new tech improves more than the cost of the change!
The only way to ‘prove’ that a tech is better than another is by letting the market decide.
Apple doesn't follow it. Also the reason companies settled was that EU threated them with regulations, if they didn't follow through when some companies (Apple) misbehaves it would mean that such threats would lose teeth and wont solve future problems. So if anything the problem here isn't EU, the reason that law is coming is Apple. Best possible scenario is that companies dynamically create new standards and fall inline, but Apple refuses to play along so regulations are necessary.
They did follow it. The initial agreement was about chargers, not cables, and you can charge any iPhone off any usb charger. Now, we can discuss the spirit versus the letter, but they signed the agreement and followed it.
The analogous scenario is a phone with 2 charging ports. The legacy usb-c alongside the newer port you would actually want/use.
Q: Do network operators/SIM card (re)sellers still have to support 2G, or just the phone manufacturers?
After a while, almost all phone also have usb-C, most people like usb-C, so the industry can petition to replace micro-B with usb-C.
Are there any examples where the EU mandates legacy stuff that is no longer useful, but still has to be kept anyway?
Not that I have ‘the answer’ just that it’s a hard problem.
I quickly glanced at a couple of the feedback documents they've got so far, and they seem to echo your concerns. We'll see if the parliament makes any changes.
There is a rather significant and major issue that this change highlights; essentially all our politicians and bureaucrats see themselves as smart and wise enough to be central planners and masters of the universe … when the truth could not be farther from it.
It's a less complicated issue, while nuanced, I think most of the details are manageable by a willing political actor.
It's also a known quantity.
This MOZ paper deals with much more complicated things.
I'm wary of involvement, I wonder if there are industry-led solutions that could be supported.
If MSFT, G, FB, AMZN could agree on something with the blessing of the EU and indirectly the US, I wonder if would happen very quickly.
> But forcing everyone to use it until the end of time is ridiculous.
Correct, it is ridiculous you think anyone did that.
> Imagine if they had done this a few years ago, and the micro-B connector was mandated. We would never have gotten usb-C.
They did. We do have usb-c.