Anker CEO on EU's proposed USB-C legislation, Apple's MFI program, taking bets on new tech like gallium nitride, building a D2C business on Amazon, and more
Anker is one of those companies that's endlessly fascinating to me — CEO Steven Yang founded it in 2011, and since then …
Context & Ripple Effects
Anker has spent a decade climbing from generic charger maker to brand: its expansion into smart home and auto showed a company trying to outgrow commodity cables, and the CEO's comments here are the next chapter of that positioning. The regulatory backdrop matters most — years of EU standardization efforts that Apple dodged via a Lightning loophole were, at the time of this interview, converging on a proposal that would close it.
The interview also sits inside a broader Verge series of peripheral-maker conversations: Logitech's CEO faced the same twin dependencies on Apple relationships and Amazon channels, making Anker's answers on MFi and D2C part of an industry-wide question about how accessory firms stay differentiated when the platforms they orbit set the terms.
First-order effects
- A binding EU USB-C rule ends the loophole that let Apple keep Lightning on iPhones, forcing Apple to converge on USB-C and giving accessory makers like Anker one connector to design for across the market instead of two.
- Anker's stated bets on gallium nitride are its answer to commoditization: once every charger uses the same port, differentiation migrates to the power electronics inside the brick.
Second-order effects
- Weakening the practical value of Apple's MFi licensing for charging accessories shifts bargaining power toward manufacturers — Anker's simultaneous push to build a direct-to-consumer business on Amazon reduces its dependence on both Apple's certification economics and traditional retail intermediaries.
- Rivals in peripherals face the same squeeze Logitech described: if connectors become legally standardized commodities, the survivors are those with brand, channel ownership, or component-level technology advantages.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, connector choice stops being a competitive weapon for platform holders and becomes regulated infrastructure — the later passage of the USB-C mandate led by Alex Agius Saliba confirms the direction, with Apple ultimately replacing Lightning on the iPhone.
- Accessory manufacturing structurally splits into a commodity layer (cables, ports) governed by standards and an innovation layer (GaN power delivery, smart home) where brands like Anker compete — regulation accelerates rather than halts that split.
The trend: Regulators are converting proprietary connector ecosystems like Lightning and MFi into mandated open standards, pushing accessory makers to compete on power electronics and owned channels rather than platform lock-in.