India's wait for uniform charging ports gets longer
His comment comes amid a bitter battle between electronics giants Apple and Samsung over the timelines for implementation of the new charging port regulation. Analysts have advised caution saying any hasty decision by the government could impact India's smartphone exports.
According to officials aware of the details, while there is consensus on the proposal to adopt USB Type-C as the standard charging port, there are differences over the timeline for implementation.
«Samsung is pushing for implementing the charging mandate along with European Union (EU) timeline for smartphones, which is December 28, 2024; Apple suggested an EU+6 months' timeline for new models and an EU+18 months, if existing models are also included in the mandate,» said an official privy of the details.
Other smartphone makers such as Vivo, Xiaomi, Lenovo, and Realme also proposed EU+6 months' timeline for smartphones during the meeting, the official added.
Electronics companies, including smartphone makers and laptop manufacturers, met officials from the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) on November 28 to discuss the matter.
«Samsung said if the EU timelines can't be met, in the worst-case scenario, the regulation should be implemented after 6 months,» said another official, who was part of the meeting.
But Apple differed with Samsung and proposed that some transition period should be given for the implementation or it will impact the manufacturing of iPhones under the Centre production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.
Queries sent to Apple and Samsung remained unanswered till press time.
On its part, the government is yet to take a call on the timelines. «The matter is under deliberation.
