Saudi Arabia passes law mandating USB-C ports for smartphones

Saudi Arabia passes law mandating USB-C ports for smartphones

Saudi Arabia passes law mandating USB-C ports for smartphones.

From 2025, Apple’s iPhone and all Android smartphones sold in Saudi Arabia must be equipped with USB-C charging ports, and laptops will follow in 2026.

After the European Union mandated that all smartphones switch to USB-C charging and data ports, governments are following suit.

The local government announced that the law aims to reduce e-waste, lower overall costs and improve user experience.

The latter comes both from being able to more easily buy or borrow the correct cable, and from ensuring higher speed data transfers.

The announcement was reportedly made by the Saudi Organization for Standards, Metrology and Quality and the Communications, Space and Technology Committee, which said the law would be enacted in two phases.

Beginning January 1, 2025, the law will require all new smartphones , headsets, keyboards, speakers and routers to have USB-C charging ports.

Then from April 1, 2026, the law will be extended to apply to laptops.

The Saudi law is unlikely to have additional impact on Apple, which is expected to transition iPhones to USB-C starting with this year’s iPhone 15, and must do so before the iPhone 17 in 2025 under EU law.

Leakers have begun claiming to have pictures of actual iPhones in their possession that include the new port mod.

Apple has yet to comment on the decision. However, the company has previously argued that switching to a universal charger would hinder innovation and increase e-waste, not reduce it.

Rumors surfaced in February 2023 that Apple would limit the charging and data transfer speeds of USB-C cables that were not certified by the company.

However, the EU has informed Apple that this is unacceptable, and if this happens, the EU will ban iPhone sales.