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The European Parliament (EP) just voted 582 to 40 to require one standard for chargers for all mobile phones. The EP cited the goals of reducing both frustration and electronic waste. The next step would be for the European Commission to draft a law and vote on it in July. Currently most of the industry uses micro-USB and is slowly adopting USB-C, however there are also phones using other connectors.
From the European Parliament resolution on a common charger for mobile radio equipment (2019/2983(RSP)):
1. Strongly stresses that there is an urgent need for EU regulatory action to reduce electronic waste, empower consumers to make sustainable choices, and allow them to fully participate in an efficient and well-functioning internal market;
2. Calls on the Commission to present and publish without further delay the results of the impact assessment on the introduction of a common charger for mobile telephones and other compatible devices with a view to proposing mandatory provisions;
3. Emphasises the need for a standard for a common charger for mobile radio equipment to be adopted as a matter of urgency in order to avoid further internal market fragmentation;
4. Calls, therefore, on the Commission to take action to introduce the common charger without any further delay by adopting the delegated act supplementing Directive 2014/53/EU on radio equipment defining a standard for a common charger for mobile phones and other small and medium-sized radio equipment by July 2020, or, if necessary, by adopting a legislative measure by July 2020 at the latest;
Earlier on SN:
The Dream Of A Common Charger Is Alive, Despite Apple's Complaining (2020)
European MEPs Back Single Charger Standard (2014)
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Sunday February 02 2020, @11:43AM (1 child)
What's your problem with this?
Maybe you get a thrill from owning a large box of incompatible chargers for all the different gadgets you have. I have a box of about 20 - and that's only the ones in current use - I have an even bigger box of redundant ones. Or maybe you find it fun to use that labelling machine to show what each one is for (they are never pre-labelled). Personally I have more important things I'd rather do than raking through boxes of chargers when I need one (not including playing golf though).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 02 2020, @03:36PM
As you indicate, the right move is to only have different chargers when there needs are too different to safely work from the same port and power supply.
In the meantime you can reduce that a bit by using ziplock bags labeled with index cards to keep them from being tangled. I also tend to label the cables themselves as way too many of them come without any meaningful way of knowing what they belong to without checking the specs, polarity and size against the device they go with.