That's why the EU back then banged the heads of the manufacturers together to force them to come up with a common standard, instead of picking one and forcing it down their throat.
>Even the seemingly most basic function of USB-C — powering devices — continues to be a mess of compatibility issues, conflicting proprietary standards, and a general lack of consumer information to guide purchasing decisions.
USB-C is not lacking. You simply get what you paid for. I am using USB-C to charge my laptop, phone, earbuds. It's been amazing having just 1 single cable dangling on my desk, instead of several. This alone has been enough positive to justify the move over to USB-C.
Also, does it have data? At 2.0 speeds? At 3.1 speeds?
Just because tip of the cable is looking like USB-C, you shouldn't expect it to support HDMI etc.
Most people are not looking for full set of USB-C features. Most people are just looking to charge their device.
I don't remember last time I wired up my phone to my computer for any data transfer, and I am a nerd who reads HN. Think about the average folk.
If we go further, a big chunk of people, don't even use anything like a file manager.
In short, biggest reason we have cables around these days is; To Charge Up. That's it.
Also, $40 per cable is completely and utterly ridiculous. That's 5-8% of monthly salary of Bulgaria (EU country) for a short cable.
That's why you don't buy a $40 usb cable for charging. You don't need all the pins in usb-c standard for all purposes. You can have a few USB-C cables for various purposes. Fully-implemented ones are easy to identify, just by their weight difference really.
>> Even charging from cable to cable is completely different. But I do not believe at all that regular people do not ever have the need to connect their device to a computer. They might not most of the time, but that one time they do they'll be kicking themselves over it.
I wouldn't say they will be kicking themselves over it. If they really cared and knew about transfer speeds of different cables, they would be one to invest in a better cable ahead of time. If they didn't know about those details, they will have no surprises to begin with. Because it works on par with USB2.0 at least.
Actually you know you shouldn't expect much from the $5 one. But the $40 is a lottery.
And if USB-C doesn't cut it anymore, who's to say that industry can't move to a different system? EU legislation usually isn't outlandish but follows industry practices. If device manufacturers bring up a pressing need for USB-D, EU will allow both for a transition period and then mandate USB-D (or split up mandatory standards by device class if need be).
I don't see how every tiny iteration of a standard has to result in a different plug system - the incentive for companies to iterate plugs just to force consumers to re-buy gear is just too high.