Why Your USB-C Cable Isn't Working (And What To Do About It)
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You bought a fancy USB-C cable to charge your phone or transfer files - but nothing works as expected. Is your cable broken, or are you being misled?
Like many others, you might have found yourself doubting if there is an issue with your device or something else.
Luckily, In this article I will explain why you might be frustrated with your USB-C and why it isn't the silver bullet many manufacturers pitched it to be. Let's start by explaining what USB-C is:
What Is USB-C?
USB-C is the oval-shaped connector that is used in newer electronics to transmit high speed data and large amounts of power over a single interface. It is the latest (and the coolest) USB connector that we have. Chances are that you're using USB-C right now if you have a not-so-old laptop, phone or a computer.
The oval-shaped connector is ever more powerful and convenient but it's core promise was to bring an end to the connector madness that preceded it. Before USB-C, most electronics manufacturers would use different types of USB connectors for different kinds of products.
Separate connectors meant separate cables that would work with just one class of device. Your consoles used a different cable, your phones had a different one, your laptops had a different connector too.
If you were using a Samsung phone it used a different cable than their laptop even though both were manufactured by the same company. This was the sort of confusion that led to the need for something new, something universal like USB-C.
How is USB-C different from the rest?
In my opinion there are 4 major upsides to USB-C. Let me explain them in more detail down below:
Broad Support
Apple's lightning being proprietary to Apple didn't make it to devices from other manufacturers. USB-C on the other hand is broadly supported across devices from different manufacturers. The USB-IF (the non-profit that invented USB) has more than 1000 members that support USB standardization with pretty much all of the big manufacturers on board.
This broad support means that consumers get to enjoy USB-C support all the way from Apple's iPhone, Nintendo's Switch, Sony's PlayStation to their electric toothbrush :p.
Convenience
For an average user probably the biggest upside to using USB-C is its reversible nature. Out of the previously common USB versions it is the only one that can be plugged either way without having to have it in the correct position.
For those of us who have used the normal USB (Type-A) understand the pain of changing the sides until the USB plugs into its slot.
Below I have attached a visual representation of this phenomenon:
This pain of finding the correct position is simply not present in USB-C. There is no right or wrong way to plug it. You just line it to the slot and push. You don't have to fight with the connector.
Speed
Out of all the previous iterations of USB connectors, USB-C ranks the fastest in data-transfer speeds. The USB-C connector can easily achieve data speeds that no previous USB connector could hope to. The latest version of USB-C supports data-transfer speed of up to 40 Gbps over a single cable.
Just to give you an idea, the precursor to USB-C, the USB Type-B was capable of data transfer speeds of just up to 480 Mbps compared to USB-C's 40 Gbps. This is why we see high-speed devices like External SSDs and External GPU docks make use of USB-C.
Not only is USB-C exponentially faster than previous versions of USB but features like 'Alternate Mode' make it so that it can use HDMI or Display Port protocols and drive high resolution displays easily at demanding configurations like 4k 60Hz.
Power
Previously you could use USB cables like the USB Micro (Type-B) to charge smaller devices with smaller batteries like Smartphones, MP3 players, PSPs or other low power electronics but there were a few limitations:
Power Limit - In USB 2 and USB 3.0 the power transfer was significantly limited up to 15 watts.
One Way Power - In prior USB generations power transfer between two connected devices would only happen one-way. The power flows from the higher powered device to lower powered one and it can't be reversed.
USB-C has no such limitations because it can be used to power devices for up to 130 watts which means you can easily charge your laptops, phones, powerful hand-helds like the SteamDeck/Switch over a single cable.
USB-C also supports two-way power which means devices can transmit power either way they want to charge other devices.
To sum it up, A single USB-C cable has the power to transmit high-speed data, high-wattage power and drive demanding video setups over large resolutions.
Why was USB-C needed?
Early Proprietary connectors
If you're someone who hasn't used a barrel plug on a Nokia 3310 you're in luck. I remember back in my childhood even two phones from the same company had different connectors.
The connector situation in the early 2000s was a total train-wreck. If you had an iPod you needed a special cable. If you had a Nokia phone you needed a special cable. If you were playing games on a PS3, charging your controller would require a different cable.
The worse part was that most of these connectors were largely incompatible with other devices. If you did break the original charger for your phone, you were in a bad situation because the cables were fixed to the chargers at that time and were not replaceable.
Different versions of USB
When the USB standard was released back in the late 90s it started a wave of standardization of communication interfaces among different electronic devices. It did cut back on the absolute atrocities in the name of connectors that existed before but it also created some of its own weird connectors.
USB Type-A, USB Type-B connectors all had their normal, mini and micro variants. On top of three variants for each connector, these each variant then had different versions of the USB standard that regulated how much speed and features each connector can have.
The USB standardization in a sense changed the completely obnoxious proprietary connectors with different variations of standard connectors that just added to similar confusion as things progressed.
Promise of a Universal Connector
USB-C entered the scene as a universal connector that everything from your laptop, phone, PC, gaming controller to your electric toothbrush supports no matter what brand it is. It was faster, more powerful and ever more featureful all the while being more convenient than the previous ones for the end consumer.
The promise that we'd finally have a single connector for all our devices was a promising one and that is one of the biggest reasons behind work on the USB-C connector. The disdain for different proprietary connectors was a motivating factor for big-tech to work on developing a universal connector.
Major Issues with USB-C
Not All USB-C Is Equal
Depending on the cable you have your features could vary by a lot. Two USB-C cables from the same manufacturer can be very different in performance. Some cables may support Power Delivery of 100 watts while others may not. Some cables may support Display Support while others may not and the sad part is that it normally isn't as clear for an average consumer.
To add to the confusion, the USB version being used in a USB-C connector can have significantly different speeds. I won't bore you guys with an explanation of each version but just to give you an idea, you can have two USB-C cables that look the same but have vastly different speeds because of different versions of the USB standard they're using.
The table below shows different USB-C versions with their respective speeds:
Why Does This Confusion Exist?
I think there are two major reasons that are the root of many problems that USB-C faces:
The first thing is that your average consumer isn't much educated on the topic of USB-C. Many people mix up the USB connector with the USB version and think it's the same thing. It should be clear that USB-C is just a connector and its version/protocol determines its speed, feature-set and other capabilities
Most users don’t know what their cable can actually do which is largely because of bad marketing of USB-C products. Most manufacturers don’t clearly label features so the average consumer can understand them. This creates confusion when things don't go as the consumer has hoped to
How Does This Confusion Affect You?
The result of this confusion is a frustrating experience for the average consumer:
You have a phone that supports fast charging but having a cable that doesn't support the power requirement can act as the bottleneck in the chain
Some cables may not support power delivery and you may be frustrated in thinking that may be the issue is with your device
As I explained earlier, A USB-C cable with a different USB version would have different speeds, Depending on that, it could be faster or slower in your case
Is USB-C the Perfect Connector?
It isn't perfect but it probably is the next best thing we have at the moment. Can we name a single connector that is reversible, supports power delivery north of 100 watts and data transfer speed of 40 Gbps? Do we know of a universal interface that most of the manufacturers from Big Tech to Toothbrush manufacturers agree to use in their electrical devices?
Until we have better answers to the questions above I believe USB-C is our best bet and it's not that the problem is with the connector. The USB-C connector itself is as featureful and powerful as anything else.
The problem lies in bad marketing and less transparency from the manufacturer's side. The focus should be on mandating companies to be transparent about the feature-set of their specific USB-C implementation.
Easy to understand labels should be used to educate consumers. Companies have to shift to educating the consumers if they want to solve the problems with USB-C.
What's Next for USB-C?
The initial promise of USB-C was to clear up the mess that previous USB connectors left behind. While the reality isn't as ideal as the promise we can only hope that things get better from here and we have reasons to be somewhat optimistic about USB-C's future.
We have started to see companies like Microsoft take a stand to cut down on the USB-C confusion. Microsoft just recently released a standard of specs which USB-C implementations have to follow to be certified under their Windows Hardware Compatibility Program. This program requires the USB-C implementation to support high-speed data, power and display functionality.
We can conclude this by saying that we can create universal connectors that are genuine inventions and an exponential improvement over the existing connectors but unless we work on clearly communicating and regulating the implementations to end users we can't go far.
The EU has legislated hard to get big-tech to accept USB-C as a universal standard across devices and it has worked. Maybe now what is needed is a regulation to be more transparent about the features of specific USB-C implementations in marketing and communication efforts.
With this, let's hope other countries continue this trend by asking manufacturers to take this seriously and be more transparent with their USB-C implementations going forward.