I have amassed quite a collection of cables over the years, and I have no idea what to do with all of them. The reason for this is that it never felt like there was a uniform standard. I have Lightning cables, I have Mini-USB cables, and I have Micro-USB cables. All of these cables have accomplished the same task over the years, and that’s charging phones. Sure, they’ve done other things, and I still find it annoying to go back to older consoles, even ones as recent as a PS4, and realize I can’t use a USB-C cable to charge the controller.

USB-C really ended up being a game-changer, and it finally feels like everything’s on a unified platform. I can use the same cable to charge my PS5 controller, my Chromebook, my phone, and my TV remote. It’s nice to finally have some versatility like that instead of having to mix and match things all the time. In fact, things have gotten so good that I’m scared a new cable is going to come along and ruin everything. If I were in charge, USB-C would be the endgame.

Don’t ruin a good thing

Change is inevitable

Having everything using the same cable is nice because I know I’m going to maximize its value. A USB-C is going to get used in my bedroom, my office, and my living room all the same, and I’m very grateful for that. The same thing couldn’t always be said. It’s not even that long ago that I’d need a different cable to charge my phone, my controller, and my laptop. It feels game-changing to be able to use one cable for all of those things now.

I fear that eventually there will be a new cable iteration that breaks up this moment of bliss. If there’s one thing this world has taught me, it’s that we can’t have things be perfect. I wouldn’t say USB-C is perfect, but it feels like it’s the closest we’ve come in terms of cables. I mean, let’s just look at fast-charging for a second. How much more is there left on the bone for speed? I feel like my phone already charges very fast, and I have a feeling that people will be happy with these speeds for several years to come.

Data transfer is also so fast that I don’t see why we’d even worry about improving it right now. I know that day is going to come, so I just have to prepare myself for it. I do have some ideas about a potential road they could go down, however. I think if we look at HDMI cables as an example, there’s a clear path forward that I hope the USB-C successor ends up taking.

Take notes from HDMI

Keep the same connection

One thing HDMI has managed to keep consistent over the years is the same port. What I mean by that is that your HDMI 1.4 cable you had bundled with your PS3 works all the same on your PS5. No, it doesn’t offer the same performance, and if you want the most out of your PS5, you need to pair it with an HDMI 2.1 cable. However, both of these cables utilize the same exact port. HDMI is completely forward and backward compatible, so everything works regardless of generation. This gives your older cables value still, while the same thing can’t be said of my old Micro-USB cables. Eventually, that cable was left in the dust and I can’t really use it for anything modern.

I did eventually end up with a bunch of cables that don’t have much use for me anymore, but I’d much rather have the ability to use them with any future TV I get instead of being stuck with something like a Micro-USB cable that doesn’t pretty much nothing. HDMI feels like it has figured out how to keep each cable relevant, even with new ones released quite often. I do admit that a bit more work can be done to explain to the masses what the difference between an HDMI 2.0 and 2.1 cable is, however. It was a lot simpler when you were forced to upgrade your cable to charge your phone because that was straightforward. If your cable didn’t fit into your phone, it wasn’t going to work. HDMI works regardless of the generation, and you could easily run into the problem of somebody using an older cable with their TV wondering why they aren’t getting the best performance.

Even with those hiccups, I’d still rather move forward with USB-C becoming the standard port with each cable bringing in new features. It works for HDMI, so I don’t know why it can’t for USB-C. Of course, I know very little about the intricacies of how cables work. I don’t really know why it works for HDMI, so maybe there’s a good reason it’s not like that for things like phone chargers.