this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025

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Unpopular Opinion

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USB Type-C is not up for the challenges it has (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/unpopularopinion@lemmy.world

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It has obvious advantages, but the way it went no further than mini\micro-usb in design department shows it's flaws even more.

The death of connecting parts was always a concern, and short, smooth format without any kind of a clipse fixation makes it fail to connect after a while like any other with the same production quality.

The overuse of it nowadays leads to bigger failure rates because you now can use cords interchangeably, so these connectors wear off faster than before (not to say your devices have faster charging times and higher discharging rates, so the plug\unplug routine is generally more frequent nowadays).

Your go-to universal cord can charge your phone, earbuds, vape, notebook, video-converter, beatmachine, microphone, gamepad etc. And unless you have a dedicated cord for each one of those, you'd experience them breaking up at surprising speeds.

The two-sided design is it's crowning jewel, but I could've traded it for some better one-sided longer design with some sort of a lock instead. Some DP cords I have have a pair of teeth that can secure the connector in the hole, with a button to release it. It is not possible in Type-C I believe.

Big Cord bathes in cash as we speak.

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[–] ptz@dubvee.org 23 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I've been using some USB-C cords for 5 or 6 years now and the connectors are still going strong. They're way more reliable than micro-USB which seemed to wear out after a few months.

Your go-to universal cord can charge your phone, earbuds, vape, notebook, video-converter, beatmachine, microphone, gamepad etc.

This has been life changing in all the best ways. The bonus is that power banks have kept up and most good ones support power delivery, which has been amazing for keeping my laptop powered when I'm working in the field.

I think my biggest gripe is the wildly varying feature sets of both cables and ports. I can understand e-marked cables for different wattages, but all cables should support video and all USB-C ports should at least indicate if it supports video output. I've spent way too long troubleshooting docks and portable monitors simply because I accidentally grabbed the wrong cable.

[–] cronenthal@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Not an unpopular opinion but a plain wrong one. I've had USB C cables for far longer than the devices they connect to, can't really remember any of the connectors ever giving me trouble I've yet to see a cable/connector fail due to wear. It's a solid spec and the wide range of uses is brilliant.

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

only issue I've ever had with usb-c, was dust. collected in the female port on the phone. sewing needle to clean the port, worked like new again.

well, there was other issues but that's more a 'bought the wrong cable's as it was data only and didn't have pd.

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago

Noo don't use a metal needle you could short the port. The best thing I found for cleaning them are plastic toothpicks like the ones on the end of a "disposable" flosser.

[–] altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 days ago

Switching the cord shouldn't have fixed the problem, but it had. I blame it on my overabuse of just a bunch of them probably.

[–] altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 6 days ago

Then you can suggest a brand or a price category for them, I guess. The one that failed the last cost me $7 for 3 meters, that is 1,5 chain-place pizzas where I live. The one that came with my generic ps4-clone controller holds noticeably better, but it's way shorter so it seen way less wear. I guess it's a product quality + the frequency of how I use just a few of them.

[–] admiralpatrick@lemmy.world -1 points 6 days ago

Please try to disagree without gatekeeping (e.g. telling them their opinion is wrong).

Not gonna mod this comment or anything, just giving a warning.

[–] Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

i havent had a usb c port fail so far just some that required cleaning.

I far prefer it againt mini and micro usb, which I had have countless examples of devices that had it break

[–] ptz@dubvee.org 2 points 6 days ago

Yeah, same.

I think the worst issue I've had was when I was using a chainsaw to cut up a fallen tree. Phone was in my pocket and a chunk of wood somehow made its way into its USB port and was such an absolute perfect fit that I almost never got it out of there lol.

[–] remon@ani.social 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I've never had a USB-C connector or port fail or wear out ... ever. And that is with daily use for over 6 years.

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This is a pretty unpopular opinion because it's wrong. I've had more lightning ports fail than USBC. Lightning is too small and makes it hard to clean the pocket lint out.

[–] admiralpatrick@lemmy.world -3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Please try to disagree without gatekeeping (e.g. telling them their opinion is wrong).

Not gonna mod this comment or anything, just giving a warning.

[–] Sackeshi@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

They are objectively the best connectors both in unitality and availability.

[–] socsa@piefed.social 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I have honestly never had any problems with jacks getting loose. I have devices from ten years ago that still hold a USB cable just fine.

[–] altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 days ago

Probably a production quality issue, but I wrote this after having weeks of trouble on my previous cable where I'd look onto locked screen if it indicates speedy charge or not, reconnecting it if not, it being really loose in the hole. And then changing it to the newer one because the old one constantly 'reconnected' while laying on the table, and the new one works great as we speak, so it's not a dust\dirt issue.

I use a couple of cables on a lot of different tech multiple times a day so maybe I'm just overabuse a bunch that I have.

[–] TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.ca 7 points 6 days ago

I've read so many times that the cable is designed to wear out faster than the jack, and yet I've had numerous devices have their USB-C jacks fail.

I still have all of my USB-C cables, even the one that came with my very first USB-C phone. All of them still work and fit fine.

[–] Krudler@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Not just a bad opinion but literally a stupid and wrong opinion.

Yeah let's put clips in our connector so that one accidental tug destroys the port & the cable /s

A genius, you are not.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

While I agree that it's not a great idea, you're coming off a little harsh here IMO. 🙄

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 days ago

Well, the opinion is definitely unpopular!

I would also argue that it is on the weak side as opinions go. A lot of what you're citing as reasons for it not being "up for challenges" just aren't true in real world usage. Particularly the durability factor. I've yet to see a cable fail because of the connector itself, and ports only fail after unusual abuse that I've seen, and I'm the family default for android device troubles.

As an example based on your points of objection. This year to date I've gone through two different micro usb cables because the connector end failed.

I haven't had to replace a usb-c at all this year, and only two the entirety of last year. That's despite a lot of plugging and unplugging because I'm up to six devices on USB-c that take charging daily ( plus some others that need charges less often) and only keep two cables in use at a time.

Last year, I went through maybe three micro usb for two devices total. Back when everything was micro usb, I would go through one of the anker cables with the woven wire cover about every three to four months. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower, but around that.

It's veen my experience that the ports in usb-c are also less prone to getting loose, and they're definitely less prone to damage when the cable gets jerked out.

[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I'm also one of the people who rarely has any issues with the connectors themselves. It's always the cable which breaks close to the jack, not the connector. Also sits super tight in my phone that's half a decade old... I've destroyed usb-c connectors though, by accident and with some force involved. And the cables have different quality, yes. Some are fine for many years, some are cheap e-waste.

I mean they probably don't have any long protrusions or snap-in mechanisms, because today's phones are very slim and other gadgets are tiny as well, so you can't have a large connector with robust snap-in mechanisms. (And those tend to break as well, especially if they're flimsy like the ones on network cables.)

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago

I've never in my life had any USB cord or connector break on any device for maybe 20 years. Only when lending it to someone else did one connector break, once, and they dropped the thing while connected.

I feel like there's two camps within USB. People who fucking rip their cord out and shove it in again—impatient people I guess. And then there's people who are careful with their shit.

Maybe a hot take. 🤷‍♂️