Following in the footsteps of the European Union, India has passed a regulation that will mandate the use of USB-C chargers for all mobile devices.

The announcement by the Indian government-run Bureau of Indian Standards was reportedly made Tuesday following consultation with industry stakeholders about standards, global supply chain constraints and the availability of products.

“BIS has notified standards for type C chargers and the government will come up with two common types of charging ports for mobiles and wearable electronic devices,” Rohit Kumar Singh, secretary of the Indian ministry of consumer affairs, said in an interview with Business Standard. “There is a broad consensus among the industry and government that the use of USB type C charging ports can be made mandatory after six months of the European Union’s rolling out of standards for USB charging ports in 2024 as electronic manufacturers have a global integrated supply chain.”

USB-C charging will be required to be supported in devices sold in India as of March 2025, not six months but three months after the Dec. 27, 2024, deadline in the EU, with some exceptions for small devices where USB-C is not practical to use. Like the EU, India cites consumer interests and reducing e-waste as the motivation behind the decision.

Although the trend toward making USB-C a compulsory standard will affect numerous manufacturers, one company in particular is most affected: Apple Inc. While most of the mobile phone industry now uses USB-C as standard, Apple continues to sell iPhones that can only be charged using its proprietary Lightning charger.

Despite lobbying attempts against the EU regulation, Apple has seemingly resigned itself to having to switch to USB-C. Reports that Apple was preparing to abandon its Lightning port for USB-C charging go back to 2019. A report in May suggested that the 2023 iPhone 15 would be the first iPhone to make the switch. Apple confirmed in October that it would be making the switch but did not say when USB-C charging would debut on new-model iPhones.

India is one of Apple’s key growth markets, and although only holding a 4% overall market share, it has seen record growth. Apple also started manufacturing iPhones in India in September.

Photo: Rob Pegoraro/Flickr