The officials did not give a timeline for implementing the decision, but an industry executive, who did not wish to be named, said it will happen after the change is implemented in the European Union.
The consensus was reached at an inter-ministerial task force meeting held the same day. It was chaired by Rohit Kumar Singh, secretary, department of consumer affairs. At the meeting, industry stakeholders said they will be implementing USB Type-C charging ports in their devices in a phased manner.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), IIT-BHU and executives from smartphone companies, including Samsung and Apple, and hardware makers such as HP, Dell and Lenovo.
According to the government officials, the consumer affairs department said at the meeting that a sub-group will be formed to examine the feasibility of uniform charging ports for wearables like earphones and smartwatches.
While more than 98% of Android smartphones already use USB Type-C as the charging port, Apple’s iPhones rely on a proprietary Lightning port.
An industry executive said Apple did not oppose the move to switch to USB Type-C as the common standard.
ET’s email query to Apple remained unanswered till as of press time.
The government had called a meeting with industry stakeholders and associations on August 18 to ask them to implement a common charging standard across mobile devices in a bid to reduce e-waste and make charging of electronic devices easier for consumers.
On June 7, the EU had agreed to have USB Type-C as the common charging standard for all mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets and cameras by 2024. Laptop makers have been given time until 2026 to comply.
USB Type-C is a cable and port standard set by the USB Implementers Forum, a global non-profit organization created to promote and maintain specifications of the universal serial bus.
USB Type-C cables are noted for their symmetrical connector that can be plugged in any direction, unlike the previous iterations.
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