USB-C Standard Now Has 14 Variants, Each Incompatible With the Cable You Own

The USB Implementers Forum announced Tuesday the ratification of USB-C revision 2.4.1, bringing the total number of USB-C cable variants to 14, each visually identical and each capable of doing something slightly different from the one you purchased. 'USB-C was designed to be one cable for everything,' said USB-IF spokesperson Karen Conductor. 'And it is. It's one cable shape. With fourteen different capability profiles. The shape is universal. The function is chaos.' The 14 variants include cables that carry data but not video, cables that carry video but not fast data, cables that carry power but only up to 60 watts, cables that carry power up to 240 watts, cables that look identical to 60-watt cables but will 'probably melt if you push 240 watts through them,' and what the specification describes as 'legacy USB-C cables of indeterminate capability.' 'The problem is that they all look the same,' said tech analyst Bruce Ampere. 'You can't tell a $5 cable from a $50 cable by looking at it. You can't tell a Thunderbolt 4 cable from a USB 2.0 cable. You have to either read the microscopic text on the cable, check the packaging you threw away, or simply try it and see what happens.' Consumers have reported widespread frustration. A survey by Consumer Reports found that the average household owns 11 USB-C cables and can identify the capability of zero of them. 'I have a drawer of USB-C cables,' said Portland resident Denise Port. 'Some charge my laptop. Some don't. Some transfer files fast. Some transfer files at the speed of a fax machine. They are all the same color. I have labeled none of them. I live in a state of permanent cable roulette.' The USB-IF has proposed a new labeling system involving small logos printed on the cable ends. The logos, which Consumer Reports describes as 'too small to read without magnification,' are expected to resolve the issue.