9 in 10 Indians want uniform charging cables for mobiles and tablets: Survey

A majority of Indian consumers believe makers of smartphones and gadgets have different charging cables for different devices to maximise sales of accessories, a survey has revealed. Nine out of 10 consumers want uniform charging cables for their mobiles and believe the government should standardise charging cables for mobiles and tablets, according to a study by advocacy platform LocalCircles.

The survey was conducted after the European Commission recently mandated that all mobile devices should support the USB-C as a single charging standard throughout EU nations by 2024.

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Over 23,500 respondents

The survey received over 23,500 responses from consumers located in over 303 districts of the country. While 68 per cent respondents were men, 32 per cent were women. Forty-three per cent respondents were from tier 1 cities, 37 per cent from tier 2 and 20 per cent were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

While 7 in 10 consumers believe that mobile devices have different charging cables as it allows manufacturers to increase sale of accessories, 5 in 10 believe different charging cables were due to lack of government standards.

Feedback underscored that standardisation was needed because of high prices and lack of availability of original brand accessories.

Counterfeit cables harmful

Consumers were often forced to buy generic charging cables or counterfeit cables available widely across shops or online. Such purchases can be harmful for both the device as well as the user, with many reports of fake mobile phone chargers causing blasts and fires, the study said.

Questions such as “How should charging cables for smartphones and tablets be standardised by the government?” received 11,796 responses, the majority of whom, 78 per cent, said, “All smartphones and tablets should have the same USB charging cable regardless of the company”. Only 6 per cent of consumers were fine with the prevalent system.

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LocalCircles enables citizens and small businesses to elevate issues for policy and enforce intervention and enables the government to make policies surrounding the citizen, the group said.