iPhone 15 is here. They will go down in history as the first to switch to a standard port, after 16 years split between five years for the old 30-pin connector and more than a decade for Lightning. Even if it’s by force.

There aren’t many people who don’t celebrate this jump. Users gain comfort Since there is no gap between manufacturers in case a charging cable is needed outside the home. And the fact that we can charge almost all our devices with the same cable provides convenience, especially in terms of mobility.

Asterisk

This arrival is only marred by the limited transfer speed of the standard models: 480 Mbps, i.e. USB 2.0. This is what Lighting has already achieved. So it’s a standard from twenty-three years ago.

But that’s not the problem with the switch to USB-C, which is extremely versatile.

The problem is the same one we’ve had since the release of this standard. HE They look the same on the outside but not on the inside.. And this applies not only to the difference between the basic iPhone series (USB 2.0) and the Pro series iPhone (USB 3.2). This applies to all the USB-C charging cables and adapters that have accumulated, and they still look the same, but they are not.

This can cause problems. From minor problems such as a computer charging too slowly due to using a charger or cable designed for a mobile phone, to much more serious problems such as the motherboard burning out due to using the wrong cable to connect a peripheral.

This is not an exaggeration: The eyes of the person who wrote these lines saw the smoke coming out due to the USB microphone being fed with the wrong cable.It is the result of not looking closely and choosing the right cable. I repeat: From the outside they look the same… but they are not.

Not always. Usually a device with a USB-C connector has safety mechanisms to prevent electrical surges, but sometimes these are not included or do not work as intended. Then comes overheating and the problems caused by them.

Ideally, you should use the cable and charger that came with the device., there is no one else; or at least they share the same manufacturer or have some credibility. For example, the convenience of using the same charger for iPhone, iPad and Mac makes sense if we use the charger with the highest power (the one for Mac); on devices that will not be damaged by this. Or at least use chargers and cables from reputable, reliable manufacturers to avoid fears.

On the other hand, if we decide to charge certain devices with the first cable we pull out of the drawer, especially when it comes to powering peripherals and not charging their batteries too much; and terrible overheating can occur, especially if it’s a cable coming from God knows where.

The minimum in case we use such cables carelessly is to be careful about overheating of the cable, device and power adapter.

And if you’re in doubt, A healthy habit that manufacturers should adopt as standard: label cables and chargers. To make it as easy as possible for everyone to understand which cables will be used for which devices, and which ones are not enough and can cause problems, at least in the style of energy efficiency, with a color code or a traffic light or a pyramid.

It’s not just USB-C that poses this problem: we’ve been around for enough years and have accumulated different generations of them at home that the clutter that HDMI represents is less dangerous but just as confusing. This is another topic though.

Featured image | Manzana.

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