[i_trax]

Finally , EU is trying to legislate USB-C as a standard so all electronic chargers / gear would be forced to use them.
Apple not happy.......

[c.a.m]

"One word: Dongles. There's a great future in dongles..."

USB-C charging standard: The proponents will push the advantages; the opponents, the disadvantages. Raises a question as to the infrastructure the EU will need to track technological advancements and to amend the legislation through the years to embrace better power and charging technology. Another question is how a legislated standard will affect (hamper) innovation by the industry. Will the EU need to interact with industry?

On the other hand, I'd love to have a single charging solution across my various electronic devices. Except my camera: I like the option of charging my depleted batteries with a wall charger, leaving them at home to charge while I'm using my camera out in the field.

Does anyone know how mechanically durable is the USB-C connector?


- Craig

[crazy4oldcars]

Craig, I've been using the USB-C to charge my Samsung phone for a couple of years, and the cable's durability is about the same as the micro. If you're willing to spend a bit more to get better cables, they hold up pretty well.
I haven't had a failure on the device side of the connection, unlike with 5he micro. That result is probably part durability, and part having learned not to overly abuse the connection.

Kirk B.

[Haenzel]

Craig, I've been using the USB-C to charge my Samsung phone for a couple of years, and the cable's durability is about the same as the micro. If you're willing to spend a bit more to get better cables, they hold up pretty well.
I haven't had a failure on the device side of the connection, unlike with 5he micro. That result is probably part durability, and part having learned not to overly abuse the connection.

Kirk B.

I would say better than the micro-plug:

usb-c goes deeper, is more snug and it doesn't matter how you plug it in (up- or down). With the micro-plug, especially in the dark, it is.............challenging.
(hmm, reading this again reminds me of something totally different...)

[normhead]

Why is this a problem with Apple? All my apple devices including my 4 year old iPhone, 6 year old iPad, and my newer laptop and M1 Mac mini are USB 3-c.

I have the dongles to prove it.

[i_trax]

Why is this a problem with Apple? All my apple devices including my 4 year old iPhone, 6 year old iPad, and my newer laptop and M1 Mac mini are USB 3-c.

I have the dongles to prove it.

Most Apple current and past small gadgets use Lightning , including new iPhone 13.
All my Apple rechargeable keyboards , mouse's , touch-pads , AirPods , remotes etc use Lightning.
My MacBookPro 13" M1 , iPads ( Air 2020 & Pro 11" ) use USB-C , so all bigger items will continue with USB-C.

[aaacb]

Does anyone know how mechanically durable is the USB-C connector?

According to wikipedia: USB hardware - Wikipedia
"Standard USB has a minimum rated lifetime of 1,500 cycles of insertion and removal,[4] the mini-USB receptacle increases this to 5,000 cycles,[4] and the newer Micro-USB[4] and USB-C receptacles are both designed for a minimum rated lifetime of 10,000 cycles of insertion and removal."

I wonder if/how specific manufacturing and materials affect this general design rating...

[i_trax]

I purchased number of high power / heavy duty USB-C ( straight ) to USB-C ( right angle ) 1M , 2M and 3M cables.
They look and feel fantastic , they will last forever.

[Wheatfield]

Does anyone know how mechanically durable is the USB-C connector?


- Craig

It seems OK. I don't ever plug my phone in because it charges wirelessly and has good wifi linking to my desktop computer. I think it's a bit of a tempest in a teapot. My wife's Apple phone has never been plugged in. It also has wireless charging and she bought a charger plate when she bought the phone.
Cars made in the past few years generally have some sort of Bluetooth connection to the phone, over time there will be less and less reason to use a wire to link to your car.
I suspect the cord is going to become a rarely if ever used accessory over the next while.

[Serkevan]

They probably won't even have to make an actual law unless Apple throws a fit. Last time they threatened with legislation, the vast majority of manufacturers went to micro-USB.

From an operational point of view, it would just require devices to include a "standard charging port", with the standards being updated every now and then.

@Craig it wouldn't change the camera operation - an eventual law would (most likely) just make in-camera USB-C charging a mandatory possibility.
Mechanically, I've never had issues with USB-C cables. Definitely less than with earphone jacks .

[Fogel70]

When I used micro USB for my most used devices, I had a cable go bad almost every month because of the micro-USB connector on the cable went bad. I always bought micro-USB cables in bundles of 5 pcs. And wherever I went i made sure I had at least two cables with me. Now when I use USB-C it is like one cable a year that go bad. It is usually because they are cheaper cables that comes with the device and wear out in the joint between connector housing and the cable.

I have never experienced a USB-C connector go bad on a device. But I have had to throw away multiple devices that stopped working because of broken micro-USB connector. Cheaper devices that just where not worth the effort to repair.

[Digitalis]

Does anyone know how mechanically durable is the USB-C connector?

USB-C connectors on laptops are woefully engineered. I have an 2014 i7 HP Elitebook (which I still use) that has a proprietary docking station - which has a connector that is engineered for multiple connect/disconnect cycles and it has easily outlasted some newer laptops I and my colleagues have had. Motherboard replacements aren't cheap.

I would hope that camera manufacturers would make the connector on their cameras more robust considering weather sealing requirements.

[Serkevan]

USB-C connectors on laptops are woefully engineered. I have an 2014 i7 HP Elitebook ( which I still use) that has a proprietary docking station - which has a connector that is engineered for multiple connect/disconnect cycles and it has easily outlasted some newer laptops I and my colleagues have had. Motherboard replacements aren't cheap.

Huh, interesting but not surprising. I've seen USB-A ports fail in laptops relatively often*, although to be honest this was usually quite deep into the service life of the machine... All were like 6+ years old and frankly starting to get to the point they were stretching beyond usability. In recent years I haven't seen issues, but currently out of 4 laptops only two have USB-Cs, and I seldom use mine (and I think it's the same for my brother), so I can't comment.

*Specifically, three laptops at home (out of a sample size of... 8 I think since 2006). My mom's cheapo Acer from 2006 or so lost one of its USB ports, and then my old Dell Latitude 6500 from 2008 had two ports die... Though apparently that one was a consequence of the motherboard burning out. Last one was my brother's laptop some 3 years ago but, coincidentally, *he had spilled some tea on the keyboard some weeks earlier*. Oopsie

[Lord Lucan]

Raises a question as to the infrastructure the EU will need to track technological advancements and to amend the legislation through the years to embrace better power and charging technology. Another question is how a legislated standard will affect (hamper) innovation by the industry. Will the EU need to interact with industry?

This argument is often made against standardisation, but that is not the way things work. The EU or any other "political" body do not write technical standards, they take them from industry bodies and from national standards committees which are composed of industry representatives. National standards committees contribute to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). I worked at one time with a British standards committee member (on pressure vessel standards) and not only did he know the business inside and out, he would discuss technical issues with the the rest of us for anything that he needed to raise at the meetings.

These technical committee members are intelligent people in tune with their industries, and they are capable of distinguishing between a proposal for a real improvement and a proposal by a company only for the sake of selling new kit.

That is not to say that the national/international standards system has not been abused in the past. The prime example was when, via a loophole, Microsoft stuffed the national committees on software standards, around the world, with its "partners" in order to push through its Open XML document file formats as an ISO standard, despite the fact that the equivalent OpenDocument standard had recently been approved. So we now have two ISO standards for the same thing. Regular members of those national software committees arriving at the their usual modest committee rooms, found them already physically full and crowded with newly recuited Microsoft "partner" representatives sent there for that one vote to push the Open XML vote through. Given latest in OO-XML vs. ODF, Microsoft must reconsider its support for ODF | ZDNet

[Digitalis]

out of a sample size of... 8 I think since 2006

I'm working with a sample size of 40 over the past ten years. Of course some people are more careful with their equipment than others. Though my brother in law works in IT engineer at several hospitals in my city and while medical staff aren't always the most technically savvy group, their hardware failure rates are notably worse than mine. Though I suspect the quality of cables could indeed be a contributing factor.

I'm thinking that eventually a connection interface that operates magnetically is the way to go as the force of contact can be controlled and designed for longevity, without the unpredictable human factor playing a part at such a crucial junction.