India is looking to move towards standardising charging ports for electronic devices. As per the developments, there would be standard charging ports for two categories of devices - a) for phones and b) for wearables. There are already billions of such devices in India, and having different charging ports means that consumers would have to use different chargers. But with a standard charging port, consumers can just use a single charger for multiple devices. It will give consumers peace of mind wherever they go as they wouldn't have to worry too much about forgetting the charger in their homes or offices.
This is similar to what the European Union (EU) is working on. Standardising charging ports also means less environmental waste. Companies such as Apple have already stopped bundling chargers inside phone boxes to save the environment. Many other smartphone brands are doing the same. Only get the charger if you really need it is the message from these companies.
A common charging port would mean that Apple would have to drop the Lightning port for iPhones in India. Lightning ports are currently only available with iPhones. If the rules change, Apple would have no other option but to shift to USB Type-C. As per a PTI report, the Department of Consumer Affairs is already considering implementing this in the coming years. EU is also doing the same, and Apple wouldn't want to miss out on either of the markets just because it doesn't want to shift to USB Type-C.
One thing that a USB Type-C port can enable for iPhones is faster charging and data transfer. It would, however, be interesting to see how things pan out for Apple in various markets in the coming years. If the EU and India are pushing for standard charging ports, it means that other nations could do the same.
