Why the USB-C port requirement is not synonymous with a universal charger


No, the move to USB-C doesn’t really get us closer to adopting a universal charger. Beyond the USB-C standard, there are many different proprietary charging technologies competing in the market.

Credit: DXOMARK

In 2022, the European Union decided to impose the USB-C port from December 28, 2024 on many categories of electronic devices, including smartphones. This new legislation should make it possible to avoid headaches for consumers, who sometimes have to juggle between chargers and cables in order to be able to recharge their terminals. The target is of course Apple, which equips its iPhones with a proprietary Lightning plug incompatible with other standards.

The EU believes that this decision will contribute to the existence of a universal charger capable of charging all our devices, which would be good news for the environment and for users (whether from a practical point of view and economic). But it is not certain that we will soon find ourselves using only one charger. Because even by making USB-C mandatory, the experiences will be far from unified.

USB-C or not, each charger is unique

This is demonstrated by DXOMARK in a new test. We regularly quote the company for its smartphone camera and screen reviews, it also has a test protocol for charging. The results of his experiment are clear: even though they all rely on USB-C, smartphones benefit from very different charging performance depending on the charging technologies used.

In other words, to take advantage of the full capabilities of our mobiles, you almost always have to use your brand’s charger. For example, the Xiaomi 12 Pro is announced by the manufacturer at a charging power of 120W. DXOMARK managed to peak at 105W with the original charger, but stuck at 22W using the Pixel 6, 19W with the OPPO Find X5, and 16W with the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

The chargers designed by the smartphone manufacturers are developed only to provide the best performance for the devices of its brand. In addition, chargers from third-party manufacturers like Belkin or Anker also fail to keep up with the original chargers. To really enjoy the charging experience communicated by the manufacturers, we can therefore forget the fantasy of the universal charger.

smartphone charging
Credit: DXOMARK

Source: DXOMARK



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