Joswiak said that the company will comply as it does with other laws. He declined to specify when the iPhone may get the charger to replace Lightning.[...]He said Apple and the EU had been at odds over chargers for a decade, recalling how European authorities once wanted Apple to adopt Micro-USB. He said that neither Lightning -- the current iPhone charging port -- nor the now-ubiquitous USB-C would have been invented if that switch had occurred.
I wonder if the EU law works somewhat in Apple’s favour here. Apple were clearly already on a journey to USB-C with the rest of their products. Although some would argue, the iPhone was destined to be port-less. However, this allows Apple to redirect any possible negativity towards the switch to USB-C to the EU.
I wrote about this proposal last September, and it's funny to see how I felt just over a year ago. Especially since my position on it has softened quite substantially. To be honest, I'm now starting to think that it might be a good idea.
When I list all the devices I use, Macs, ThinkPad, Nintendo Switch, iPad, Pixel 6, work phone (it's some Motorola Android phone), and iPhone 13, only one of them uses a port that's not USB-C. I didn't realise it until now, but the same applies for peripherals and accessories. The only non-USB-C (wired) accessory I use is my wired EarPods. And that's only because Apple removed the headphone jack and used Lightning on the iPhone 13.
So I think I'm quite looking forward to it actually. That might not neccesarily mean I'm going to buy the next iPhone, but it being USB-C is definitely a positive for me.