UCS will most probably be an expensive solution

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What is your take on the universal charging solution announced by leading telecom manufacturers at the GSMA Mobile Congress at Barcelona?
The solution offers us a possibility of growth through recreation and a new business model in accessory charger sales.

The possible universal charger solution is beneficial to Salcomp also because there are globally more than 4 bn mobile phone users who need to be equipped with new UCS charger. Furthermore, higher power output and tightened no load stand-by power requirements, together with a separate cable with standard USB and micro-USB connector, will increase the average sales price of chargers. One of the targets of the initiative is to improve the energy-efficiency of chargers and thus reduce greenhouse gases.

What are the major issues that will come in developing this UCS?
One of the most important issues will be product liability carried by mobile phone manufacturers. This has been one of the main reasons for having customer specific chargers, and specific connectors at the phone end. In addition, UCS will most probably be an expensive solution, which has relevance especially for low-end phones. Questions about who has control over the accessory business might also be important if the UCS will be widely used.

What are the changes that manufacturers will have to bring in phones?
There will be a lot of changes to be made, as instead of separate charging interface, the UCS requires phones to be charged through data connection. Until charging device standards are widely accepted by the industry, phone manufacturers will have to ensure that phones do not break while getting charged from devices that don't meet the standards. This will be a major cost addition.

What kind of solution would Salcomp suggest, for high-end handsets which are not easy for consumers to change frequently?
As UCS is based on plug-in USB charger and separate charging cable, this is expensive as two additional connectors are needed (female and male USB 2.0). Therefore, it would be less costly and more environmen friendly to have chargers with cables firmly connected to charger and not through USB. In our view, the standard should be developed to this direction as only a minority of the phones sold worldwide require a data cable. And more so, high-end phones can increasingly use wireless connection, like WLAN, and in the future there is no need for data cable.

Prasoon Srivastava
prasoons@cybermedia.co.in