On balance, USB-C has been pretty great. I would be the last person to suggest that we should go back to the bad old days of USB-A (insofar as we've actually left it) or, even worse, micro-USB.
That said, USB-C is far from the simple universal solution that was promised, and there are a few ways in particular that using this latest USB technology annoys the heck out of me.
All USB-C cables look the same... until they don't
Like most of you reading this, I have a drawer full of random cables that I keep in case I need them. Okay, technically I have a six-tier filing cabinet with cables grouped by type, but the point is that I have no idea what type of USB-C cable I have in my hand until I plug it in and test it.
My favorite cable is a special braided USB-C cable with a dark orange interior color on the tips. I end up using it for almost everything because it's rated for 100W and the fastest current data speeds. I have other plain cables with the same specifications, but in the end I'm going to have to label all my cables if I want to pick the right one each time.
The charging standards cage match
There's no denying that things were pretty flaky when it came to charging speeds and standards on USB-A and micro-USB, which are the most relevant when we're talking about mobile devices, personal computers, and other daily systems that use USB. It's one reason we have so many proprietary charging standards using USB-A.
In addition to official USB charging standards like Power Delivery (PD) and Programmable Power Supply (PPS) -- which are both optional -- there are also proprietary standards like Qualcomm Quick Charge, Oppo VOOC, Warp Charge, Samsung Super Fast Charging, and probably plenty more I don't know about.
When all the handshakes work out, it's great. However, if just one component in the chain doesn't play ball, you're dropping down to the lowest data or charging speeds everything supports at best. At worst, you'll get no power or data at all.
This is why I need more than just a handful of USB-C cables, because it's not rare to simply keep swapping cables until I find one that works.
Ports with secret identities
It's not just the cables that are frustrating. USB-C ports can be just as mysterious. For example, a given port might or might not support DisplayPort Alt mode, which lets it act like a monitor port when needed. A USB-C port might offer the latest USB 3.2 version or even USB4, or it might be a USB 2.0 port like on the latest iPhones. To muddy the waters even more, it could be Thunderbolt 3, 4, or 5 as well.
The worst of it is that you could have one laptop that has several USB ports that have some of these features, but with no uniformity. My current Windows workstation laptop doesn't have a single USB-C port with DP Alt Mode, instead opting to give me a single mini-DP port and, therefore, I can only connect it to a single DisplayPort monitor, no matter how many dongles I buy.
Sometimes computer manufacturers do us a favor and put a little screen icon or lightning bolt icon next to a part to clue us in, but they are under no obligation to do so, apparently.
The port that wears out faster than your patience
When it comes to durability, there's no question that USB-C is far better than the micro-USB ports we left behind. Those were really easy to break even when you didn't mistreat them and, of course, it was possible to accidentally try and force the plug in upside down. USB-C is more robust, but over the years its weaknesses have become more apparent.
The biggest problem, as far as I can tell, from plugging and unplugging USB-C cables thousands of times every year since I got my first phone that used the connection (a Samsung Galaxy S8), is that debris like dust and lint get shoved into the port with every insertion. So, eventually the connection becomes loose and unreliable. Personally, I've used small plastic toothpicks to gently and carefully remove that lint, but you do so at your own risk.
Another thing that annoys me is that in some devices the ports aren't modular, so if the port breaks, fixing or replacing it might involve a more expensive route than otherwise would be necessary.
Of course, USB-C isn't stagnant and new revisions, designs, technologies, and materials are always on the horizon. I think USB-C will be with us at least as long as USB-A has survived so far, but that future versions will incrementally tweak things to smooth out the remaining rough spots. Who knows, maybe one day you'll have your own USB-C port hooked up to your brain -- I just hope mine supports a monitor connection.
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