Seven years ago, I wrote a post saying that you were going to love USB-C ports, and I think it’s held up well. I’m at the point now where literally every device that I own can be charged with a USB-C cable:
- Pixel Phone
- iPad
- Chromebook
- reMarkable tablet
- Kindle
- Verizon hotspot
There’s probably more that I’m not thinking of, but it’s fantastic! Being able to use the same cord to charge all of those devices was something we could only dream about a decade ago.
The only major outstanding device is the iPhone, which still uses their proprietary Lightning connection. However, the EU recently passed a law that will essentially force Apple to switch to USB-C, which is great news for everyone. There are downsides to it, but I think the upside is worth it.
What’s next?
That leads to the inevitable question of what comes next? The way the EU law is written, it will be difficult to ever replace USB-C with a different kind of connection, but perhaps that’s ok. I think we’ll see USB-C dominate for a couple of years, but then fairly quickly be replaced by wireless charging.
We actually saw a phone come out in 2019 that had no ports on it at all and required wireless charging, though it was a bit too early to the game. Wireless charging is gaining acceptance, so I think the next phone that tries to go portless in a couple of years might succeed. The fact that we already have a widely accepted wireless standard (you may have noticed that Android phones and iPhones use the game technology for that) will help it gain acceptance more quickly.
It’ll be at least a few more years after that until laptops and tablets go full wireless, but it’s coming.
In the meantime, enjoy USB-C on every single device that comes out in the next few years and we’ll see what the future brings us.
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