Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has decided to standardize charging ports for mobile phones and electronic devices effective from Jan.1, 2025. The USB Type-C will be the lone standardized connector.

The mandatory stages of unifying charging ports for mobile phones and electronic devices in the Saudi market were announced by the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization and the Communications, Space and Technology Commission.

They stressed that the decision aims to improve the experience of users of connectors in the Kingdom and not to incur additional costs. This is also to provide high-quality shipping and data transfer technology, in addition to supporting the principles of environmental sustainability by reducing the volume of electronic waste.

The decision will contribute to reducing the amount of annual domestic consumption of chargers and charging cables for mobile phones and electronic devices by more than 2.2 million units annually, and saving spending from consumers in the Kingdom to more than SR170 million. This also helps to achieve the Kingdom’s goals for sustainability in the technology sector through reducing electronic waste by approximately 15 tons annually.

The mandatory enforcement of the decision will take place in two phases. The first phase will begin on January 1, 2025 and it will include mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, e-readers, portable video game devices, headphones, earphones, amplifiers, and keyboards and computer pointer devices (mouse), in addition to portable navigation systems, portable speakers, and wireless routers. The second phase will start on April 1, 2026 and will include laptops.

It is scheduled to start obligating companies and suppliers to standardize the types of charging ports from the year 2025 to be USB Type-C, according to the technical and administrative requirements stipulated in the technical regulations and related standards.