A new standard on mobile phone charger has been approved by the International Telecommunications Union or ITU, a branch of the United Nations. On Tuesday, the GSMA trade association announced at its 2009 Mobile World Congress come up with a standard for charging cell phones.
USB has essentially been the universal charging standard for some time. The ITU’s UCS, however, will standardize the connector that attaches to the phone, using the micro USB form factor. “UCS chargers will also include a 4-star or higher efficiency rating – up to three times more energy-efficient than an unrated charger,” the UCS aded in a statement. It added that the new technology could lead to a 50 percent reduction in standby energy consumption and a cut of 13.6 million tons to greenhouse gas emissions each year.
Motorola, Nokia, Apple, Sony Ericsson, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung and Texas Instruments agreed this past summer to standardize on the micro USB plug in Europe.
