Saudi Arabia passes law requiring USB-C charges for smartphones::From 2025, Apple’s iPhone and all Android smartphones sold in Saudi Arabia will have to have a USB-C charging port, with laptops to follow in 2026.
Holy shit… This is the first time I’ve agreed with anything from Saudi Arabia. Who knew basic rights suppressors would be pro consumer lmao.
They are not pro-consumer. They are doing this because EU has done it. On the face of things they look progressive and what not, in reality EU really dictates sane laws.
They are not pro-consumer. They are doing this because EU has done it.
Doing it when another country has already done it is still more pro-consumer than not doing it at all.
I disagree, because change is going to happen regardless what they decided. Had they been first, then we can say they did it to help consumers. This is more PR than anything else. EU is sufficiently big market so they can throw their weight around and force manufacturers to behave. Not sure Saudi Arabia has enough buying power to do that.
There are phones which aren’t sold in the EU which could have other connections. Now they can’t be sold in Saudi Arabia as well. It’s probably not a large number, but even if it’s 1,000 less phones that use a non-USB-C connection, that’s still 1,000 phones.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree Saudi Arabia is doing this for their external image, but you can’t deny it has some consumer benefit for their citizens, however small.
They’re just following in the EU’s steps in a self-aggrandising move. Everyone knows apple won’t bother with splitting the iphone line and will go with USB-C soon.
Nothing about Saudi Arabia is pro-consumer.
And if you don’t use USB-C they’ll behead you.
A step in the right direction, good job
IMO other countries shouldn’t adopt laws like this, the EU and maybe the US should be the only ones, since new standards will take longer to get adopted if every country with this kinda law has to allow it instead of just one or two.
I think all smartphone companies should pull out of Saudi Arabia until it has better human rights policies.
I’m in the minority here, but I don’t think any governments should be regulating the choice of cable in smartphones. I think it’s a convenience that they can dangle in front of people so they can say they are pro-consumer, while ignoring the working conditions of those who manufacture it, the taxes paid by corporations who make the phones, the lobbying done against right-to-repair laws, and the monopolistic tendencies displayed by these companies.
The governments have a real responsibility to hold these companies responsible for a lot of things, but I don’t think the choice of one small piece of the technology pie should be one of them.
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If the companies won’t do it on their own, they have to be forced. Apple didn’t want to play, hence the law.
