Life will soon be easier for millions of mobile phone users across thre world

A deal’s been done between industry bosses and the European Commission in Brussels to work towards a ‘one size fits all’ charger.

It would mean an end to users having to hunt around for the right type of charger for their handset and should help cut waste.

Perfectly good chargers can often be thrown away if someone gets a new type of phone handset.

The new universal charger will use a micro-USB connection.

Under the accord, the companies, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Apple, Motorola, Research in Motion and Samsung, are committed to developing the charger.

It will work for data-enabled mobile phones that support USB data exchange, meaning that the charger cable may also be used to synchronise data from a PC or Mac.

The 10 companies involved represent 90% of the European mobile market so the vast majority of the estimated 350 – 400 million users across the EU would be covered by any changes.

Currently there are more than 30 different types of chargers for handsets throughout Europe.

It is likely that the common micro usb charger will also be adopted for use with cameras, sat nav, and other mobile devices.

 This images shows the difference between the mini-usb on the left and micro-usb on the right.