In the news recently there has been talk about a new universal phone charger that will work in most mobile phones. An agreement was made by the GSM (Groupe Speciale Mobile Association) and 17 leading mobile operators to implement a universal phone charger by 2012. Firms that back the plan include Nokia, Samsung, Sony, Ericsson, LG, T-Mobile, Orange, 3, AT&T and Vodafone.
Companies will have an opportunity to offer their customers the choice to re-use their existing charger when buying a new phone. This could reduce the manufacture of chargers by half which knock on effects such as: reducing greenhouse gasses in manufacture, transport and the waste of 13.6 to 21.8 million tonnes of chargers a year. All these will help the mobile industry reduce it carbon (environmental) footprint by an estimated 50%.
The Micro USB has been decided as the new universal charger connecter. This will look like the black connecter in the image below, which is a smaller version of the standard USB connecter (shown in grey).