Apple’s third-generation iPhone SE, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Plus, are now listed as unavailable on Apple’s online store in Switzerland. The move comes just ahead of a regulation that will require any smartphone with wired charging capabilities to be equipped with a USB-C port in the European Union. All three of the above mentioned iPhone models are still equipped with a Lightning port.
While Switzerland isn’t an official member of the EU, the country does participates in the single EU market, making it subject to EU trading laws.
As we reported last week, the iPhone models will no longer be sold through Apple’s online store and retail stores in the European Union as of December 28, which is when the regulation takes effect. Apple has begun phasing out the iPhones even earlier in Switzerland.
Apple Authorized Resellers in the European Union will be allowed to continue selling these iPhone models until their remaining inventory is sold out, says the report.
Apple also plans to stop selling other Lightning-based products in the European Union as well, including its extended Magic Keyboard without Touch ID. That keyboard still sports a Lightning port for charging.
There are 27 countries in the European Union, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. Although the United Kingdom left the European Union in 2020, Apple will also stop selling the devices in Northern Ireland, which follows many of the European Union’s trade regulations.
Apple is expected to announce a fourth-generation iPhone SE with a USB-C port in March, so the device should quickly return to shelves in the European Union. However, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus would likely have been discontinued in September, so sales of those devices will likely not return to the European Union.
