If you’re a longtime listener of The Vergecast, then you know that USB-C comes up a lot. Anytime our colleague Chaim Gartenberg joins the show, there is going to be a brief aside about the complications of USB-C and the many varieties of USB-C cables.
The reason USB-C can be complicated is that we have one plug that does multiple things — from low power to ridiculously high 240-watt power. From basic data to super high-speed data. Thunderbolt. Display monitors. Audio. The dream of a single cable and plug is great, but it’s also confusing.
For today’s Vergecast, we wanted to take a step back and focus an entire episode on what USB-C is, where it’s at today, and what’s in store for its future. How do we know what cable to buy? Why is there no USB-C on the iPhone? How future proof is USB-C?
Of course, to answer some of these questions we had to bring in Verge senior reporter Chaim Gartenberg. We also talked to Rod Whitby, CTO of Australian Semiconductor Technology Company, who has worked with USB-C since its infancy and attended a number of USB interoperability workshops during the early days of USB-C. Ken Pillonel, the hacker who figured out how to replace his iPhone’s Lightning port with USB-C, also joins the show to discuss his project.
You can think of this episode as a Vergecast reference guide for the next time we cover the intricacies of USB-C on the podcast.
Listen here or in your preferred podcast player for the full show.
