Considering Apple’s request against universal charging ports, says govt

NEW DELHI: India is still considering the request made by Apple not to mandate universal charging ports for its existing iPhones, said minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

The minister said the government took suggestions from all stakeholders on the issue, and it will soon come up with its decision.

“There is still consultation going on the issue of mandating universal charging ports for all smartphones in the country. We have sought views from all stakeholders, and Apple has raised concern on it, and we said we will look into the matter,” said the minister.

The American tech-giant Apple, in a meeting with Meity officials, urged officials to exempt existing iPhone models from the regulation. The company said that its local production goals might suffer due to this decision. Also, the company would not be able to meet its production targets set under the country’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

The European Union (EU) has already given device manufacturers a deadline of December 2024 to add Type-C chargers in all electronic products. In India, a committee of the Ministry of Consumer affairs has given time till June 2025 to implement the common USB Type-C wired charging standard.

As per the reports, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs sent its recommendation to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology information technology (Meity). Now Meity will prepare a framework to implement the common USB Type-C wired charging standard. Most manufacturers, including Samsung, have agreed to comply with the rule, but Apple is yet to endorse the plan.

In FY23, India exported more than $11.12 billion worth of mobile phones, of which Apple accounted for around $5 billion, Samsung contributed about $4.5 billion, with the remainder coming from Indian and Chinese brands.