All mobile phones, tablets, earphones and a wide range of other portable consumer electronics will need to be sold with USB-C charging ports from Saturday, the EU has announced.
First introduced around a decade ago, USB-C charging ports are reversible and capable of accelerated data transfer and charging speeds, the latter known as 'fast charging’.
In a statement on Friday, the European Parliament said that as of the following day, all such devices sold in the EU must have a USB-C charging port, with laptops set to follow suit in late April 2026.
People assume it’s “just a cable” and might not understand some of the details.
Cables contain a chip to tell devices the power they can carry safely.
So most USB-C cables should work to a degree, but might not be enough to power a device fully. The default is to allow 60W, but the USB-C standard currently allows for up to 240W. So a random seizure-brand cable from Amazon may “work” but be unable to power the device while it’s running.
There was also an issue a few years ago where devices could draw too much power and destroy whatever was charging them. Not so bad if it was a charger, but it was happening to laptops when you plugged a phone into them.
Other things not in the standard but easy to find are USB-C extension cables, and cables with USB-A (regular rectangular USB) on one end and USB-C on the other.