And WiFi is going the opposite direction. From 802.1a/b/ax/whatever to WiFi 5, 6 etc.
(Although the MIMO chains can get a bit more complex, but still fairly simple compared to the USB bs)

The last one is what’s happening now, or was that a fever dream I had

The charging side is complicated to mark accurately because it has to consider current and voltage. Like, a cable might be able to do 60W, but only at 2A@30V, 3A@20V would melt the cable.

These are the same folks that released “USB 3.2 Gen 2x2” as an actual name for a specification (which if I’m remembering my USB specs correctly is the current branding for the original USB 3 spec)and muddied the waters so badly that most companiesnand reviewers just state the speed of the port rather than the version

As well as the “U” in USB, interpreted rather generally

i’m not able to understand any technical part

I’ll break it down for you - it’s a long list but easy to understand:

• Some cables have four internal wires. Others have over a dozen wires.
• Some have thin wires, some have thick wires. The thick ones cost more and are less flexible - the main benefit is they can be longer while charging quickly.
• Some cables have the internal wires wrapped in plastic. Others have them wrapped in plastic then that’s wrapped in a metal shield, then that’s wrapped in another plastic layer. The latter is more reliable and not just for the cable itself (without shielding, the cable can interfere with other electronics that are near the cable - such as your computer or phone.
• Some are just ordinary cabling, and some have complex circuitry embedded in the cable to run advanced algorithms to remove noise from the cable - this is necessary to achieve high data rates at long cable lengths.
• Nearly all use copper cables. A few use fibre optic cables. This can handle even longer cable lengths
• Some cables are just like “whatever this will do”, and others are well designed and carefully manufactured/tested/etc.

.

i just want a color : yellow charger/cable go with yellow port. Etc.

There would need to be something like a fifty colors. The USB standards body is pushing cable manufacturers to use labels that show data rates (gigabits per second) and power capabilities (watts) on every cable. That will help a lot, but for all the other stuff (especially shielding and general quality…) you need to rely on either brand reputation or third party tests. Even then you need to be careful, because the best brands don’t put all those features in every cable (too expensive).

Also unfortunately at 10€ you get what you pay for. The better brands all charge more than that.

it’s still difficult to find charging blocks with multiple USB-C ports

They exist but you won’t find them on the shelf of overly cheap chargers at the grocery store or gas station. Seems most of them cost around $50 or more if they’re worth using. Personally I’ve had good luck with Anker (which I just saw in a target electronics section yesterday!), and I’ve heard good things about uGreen on Amazon.

I currently use a 65 watt gAn charger with 3 ports when I work from home to keep my work laptop topped off plus my phone and one other bonus USB C device. My work laptop complains about the low power charger if I have anything else plugged in but is otherwise fine, and it keeps everything nicely charged at a very rapid pace

It’s not difficult to find though it can be expensive. I’ve been using Anker multi port type c chargers for years

To make it even more confusing, USB 4 and its subsequent versions are basically adapting more and more Thunderbolt features.

What the above user is saying is how it’s listed in specs and technical documents

What you are saying is how the USB IF recommends it be marketed. In theory, yours is the only one the average person should worry about these days

However in the real world it’s an absolute mess of OEMs advertising their ports as being one or the other naming schemes, or neither and just saying “USB”

Hence, the “USB-PD compliant” portion, which partly is that tiny controller chip.

You can technically have USB-C to C cables that are not PD compliant, but these are not the cables you want to be buying.

A warranty is supposed to be if it is faulty then they offer to replace it (and depending on the country these stipulation about using 3rd party chargers may not be enforceable, or illegal). Nintendo needs to prove you damaged the hardware under abnormal conditions, not using a spec charger in perfectly working order.

I know if I connect my phone to the switch charger it flips out too. So that’s gotta get resolved too

Some phones can already do that, like wireless powershare (Samsung)

My phone has reverse wireless charging.
It’s slow and terrible, but does work

Actually I wrote smartwatch but I meant GPS watch. I recently bought a Garmin and there’s no wireless charging for it.

For c to c cables, the devices need to be able to communicate with each other to establish which one is the host (the charger in this case). With a to c cables, the type a side is assumed to be the host by default. You’ll often find that manufacturers of cheaper devices prefer not to spend the extra money to implement this technology, though some will, and in fact allow for even more functionality. For example, one of my flashlights does have that chip, so it can both charge from a c to c cable if a charger is detected, and also automatically act as a power bank if I connect a device to it such as a mobile phone.

To be fair, that is true of a lot of dropship stuff on Amazon and EBay already. Claiming EC marking and the like they just don’t meet. The EU needs to come down hard on these market platforms. It’s unfair on legitimate manufacturers and bad/unsafe for consumers.

One of those devices is currently shipping to me via AliExpress… passed import without any issues.

This is a good video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByxMSOXVyrc

And it’s not just the connector either, the cable matters too. Depending on the cable the amount of power or features you can use varies. And to make thing easier they all look the same. A 15W USB-C 480Mbit USB 2.0 cable looks exactly the same as a 100W cable that supports 40 Gbit thunderbolt and Displayport.

I think Americans have bigger issues to deal with than chargers or net neutrality (e.g. playing world police, or starving children, abortion laws). Thankfully the EU can step up.

America, I’m assuming

Right but MicroUSB was not enshrined into law as a standard like this.

Tbh I’m conflicted because on one hand it’s great to have a common standard, but on the other this might very well impede progress. Also does USBC even provide enough wattage to power a gaming laptop?

I’m not sure that wireless will. Induction charging a laptop at 250W seems like it could conceivably turn your laptop into a nice cooktop.

My biggest concern is really powerful laptops. Mine sometimes uses 250 watts when doing heavy photogrammetry, which is higher than even the new PD standard for USB-C.

At the same time, there’s a few years until then, and USB-PD is an actively evolving standard. It doesn’t seem implausible for the consortium to extend the standard for high power charging at some point in the next 2+ years, seeing as it was 100W not that long ago.

I responded to someone else, but I have a gaming laptop that needs the DC Barrel plug for playing games, but also lets you charge it with USB-C (useful for traveling). That would meet the standard set forth, as it is compatible with USB-C charging.

Small appliance. For example, 6 months ago, I was looking for a new bike front light and finding one that charged by USB type C was difficult. I thought I might replace my rear light too, but all the simple, reasonably priced ones were micro USB, so I gave up.

I bought a Logitech wireless mouse last year (and a high end, well-reviewed model, to be clear) and was absolutely astounded to see that it charges by microUSB.

My beard trimmer also wasn’t USB C but in fairness maybe that’s a “we designed this so you can charge it in a wet, steamy bathroom” kinda thing.

eBook readers took ages to finally transition for some reason (faaaaaaar after phones/tablets), but we’re now finally there.

Plenty of laptops still use their crappy barrel plugs

My head torch I bought a few weeks ago was microUSB

I went into Lidl and bought a AA/AAA battery recharger, that was microUSB too

Don’t get me wrong, most stuff is Type-C now, but microUSB and others still rear their ugly heads a fair bit, and it needs to stop.

But this law is going to make changing when a better standard should take over difficult. Imagine if this was passed 5 years ago when the terrible one sided USB was common. The only group that will have the power in the future to update it is the USB group, and that is a group of manufacturers that have a driving goal of absolute cheapness at heart, not innovation. This is a terrible law.

I don’t think there are any 240 watt chargers on the market though despite it theoretically being supported. Last I read, there were some doubts around if it was truly feasible. Laptops that require more than 90 or so watts still come with proprietary chargers because they can’t charge at full rate over USB-C.

My Dell laptop is 240 watts and the only way to charge it at full rate over USB is to buy a proprietary $250 charger from Dell that provides two USB cords that must be plugged in together to achieve a combined 240 watts. The 90 watt charger from my old laptop won’t keep it running for more than an hour.

Anyway, hopefully we see 240 watt USB-C in the future but at the moment it seems to be vaporware. Maybe this ruling will push it forward.

Say that to the graphics devision of computing please.

Not excessive at all for a laptop, a gaming laptop may burn 400W at full tilt. Max power consumption really is more of a matter of how much heat dissipation the form factor allows in those instances: Just because you find a way to do more computation with less watts doesn’t mean that people won’t use it to do more computation at the same watts.

I read the website but it doesn’t say. But it does say that the consumer will have to check that the charger is compatible with the device so you might end up frying your device if you connect them to the wrong USB C Charger (things that were prevented because of the different connectors). I don’t say that the directive is wrong but it doesn’t go far enough. It should force all devices manufacturers and chargers manufacturers to use the power delivery protocol so consumers don’t have to worry about power compatibility between chargers and devices.

The power delivery protocol allows for the device and the charger to negotiate a charging power.

Without delivery protocol the charger delivers as much power as it’s can so it might fry the connected device.