The benefits of a standardized charging port are reduced costs and increased convenience for end users, since it’s a pain in the ass to buy and fiddle with different cables for charging different devices.

The reality is that although Apple has dragged their heels far too long in standardizing the use of USB-C throughout their product line, especially on the iPhone, it is a mistake for governments to be mandating technological design details in areas that are still evolving.

If governments had standardized charging ports back when micro-usb was the most widely used connector, we’d probably still be stuck using that horrendous design to this day. Most device manufacturers are focused on minimizing costs and maximizing volume, with little regard for elegance or usability. So we should not allow “the market” to dictate design details like this with the backing of government regulations.

For the record, I welcome having usb-c ports on all of my Apple devices. But I don’t welcome this coming as the result of government-mandated design standards which could stand in the way of better designs in the future. This may be irrelevant for charging ports since the next step will likely be wireless, but it sets a bad precedent.