ITU approves universal phone charger standard

[Julio Franco]

How many times has it happened to you? Needing to recharge your mobile phone while on the go, while nobody around had a compatible charger for your specific model or brand? Or how about the old chargers you discarded when bought that new cell phone and gave the old one the boot? Finally a solution has been brought to the table, a universal charger standard that will solve these day to day problems, but perhaps most importantly reduce manufacturing waste and consumption.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that comprises of several nations and manufacturers in the sector recently announced they have put their stamp of approval in a one-size-fits-all solution to mobile phone chargers. Based on the Micro-USB interface, the Universal Charging Solution (UCS) will enable the same charger to be used on all future handsets, regardless of make and model.

The proposed chargers were designed to save energy by cutting up to 50 percent of standby energy consumption. The ITU also expects to decrease 13.6 million tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions each year due to the elimination of 51,000 tonnes of redundant chargers.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/36708-itu-approves-universal-phone-charger-standard.html

 

[aaron86]

The benefits of the last paragraph are all dependent on Manufacturers NOT shipping new chargers with every phone. Otherwise, if they keep shipping a charger with every phone, you end up having the same number of chargers being produced. I would like to see them not ship new chargers, but I have a feeling people would ***** about it. It would be like buying a toaster that didn't come with an electrical plug.

 

[Guest]

what the junk

 

[Guest]

three letters: USB

 

[Peking Duck]

im confused is this standard coming to ALL phones? like internationally? and what time frame?! seems like a good idea but forgive me if im nieve cause ive never heard of ITU do they carry much weight??

 

[MMDominator88]

"In June, top mobile phone suppliers such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson and other industry majors agreed to back an EU-wide harmonization of phone chargers, which means phones compatible with standard charging devices are available in Europe from next year."
So apparently this means they are in EU
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE59L2NB20091022

 

[tengeta]

They already standardized this... I don't see any modern phones without USB charger plugins...

This is not a standard, its the opposite. Intended to YET AGAIN force us to deal with the problem they claim they are ridding of.

 

[Relic]

tengeta said:
They already standardized this... I don't see any modern phones without USB charger plugins...

This is not a standard, its the opposite. Intended to YET AGAIN force us to deal with the problem they claim they are ridding of.

0o? My old Motorola Razr had USB charger and I loved it (Mini), but it was showing its age and I replaced it with a Nokia 5610 (Q3 08) which does have a Micro USB port but a separate charger. Either way doesn't bother me but I would like everything to be USB...

 

[Julio Franco]

It will ultimately depend on manufacturers but once a few of them adopt the standard I can't see the rest not following. Plus it's a global compromise, not just a commercial agreement.

Something I missed on the original story but was available from the source link, the adapter is based on the Micro-USB interface.

 

[elroacho72]

Wow the numbers of what we would save in waste is eye opening. I think we are seeing this move are ready in many of the new smart phones and even blue tooth devices. I still have a pile two dozen high that I need to find someware to recycle them. Anyone have any ideas of ware I could do that?Thanks

 

[tavesa]

Thanks to the ITU, finally they came up with a good solution. Even though they said, by doing so, they can reduce the number of redundant chargers, but when a new phone is purchased, you'll get the charger for the phone. They should keep the charger as optional and those who need it will purchase. In that case the, chargers being produced can be reduced.
Micro-USB interface also helps a ton. We can connect to the PC and charge the phone. And since USB is standardized we can use one charger for other, if one is lost or damaged.