With various standards and charging technologies at work, it is much harder than it should be to work out what a cable can do. There are a few things worth knowing when shopping.
USB Standards: The Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard dates to 1996 but has seen many new standards, revisions, and connector types in the years since. Instead of running through all of them here, we try to highlight what matters.
Connectors: While USB-C is mercifully becoming a standard connection type, you want cables with connectors that fit your existing devices. Today, that still might mean USB-A, Lightning, or even MicroUSB. Remember that the capabilities of any cable are limited to its oldest connection type.
Data: The data transfer speed is always in megabits per second (Mbps) or gigabits per second (Gbps). You’ll know the speed a cable should be capable of by the standard:
- USB 2.0 supports 480 Mbps
- USB…
