Under pressure from the European Union, USB-C is to become the universal charger in Europe by the end of 2024. This should reduce electronic waste, but would also have an impact on the primary and secondary markets.

Upcoming legislation called the Radio Equipment Directive states that all mobile devices in Europe must support USB-C. This law is necessary so that major companies, including Apple, can use a common standard for cables to reduce e-waste. Now, a report from CCS Insight, seen by The Register, shows that these USB-C rules are expected to result in eight million used smartphones becoming unavailable and effectively obsolete, increasing pressure on the circular market.

Reduce electronic waste

The EU has introduced the Radio Equipment Directive, which states that from December 28th all mobile phones must support USB-C. These regulations are necessary to reduce electronic waste generated by manufacturers developing their own cables. For example, Apple fought against these regulations for years with its own Lightning cable. This cable has now been thrown in the trash under pressure from the European Union.

Circular economy

However, according to market researcher CCS Insight, these regulations affect both the primary and secondary markets. It is estimated that more than sixty percent of the used smartphone market would not support USB-C when the directive comes into force on December 28th.

Simon Bryant, vice president of research at CCS Insight, told The Register: “The USB-C mandate will put pressure on the emerging circular economy, which has already seen several companies go out of business this year due to difficult market conditions. It also risks pushing trade into unregulated channels and is likely to lead to parallel imports circumventing EU customs.”

Although the ban only applies to new, imported models, used phones with older connectors will continue to be offered for sale within the EU. Nevertheless, the market observer estimates that the policy will remove two out of every five phones from stock, which equates to eight million devices, with a turnover value of around two billion euros. This has implications because the EU is the world’s largest importer of used phones, which mainly come from countries such as the US, Japan and Singapore.