lipsum

It is a mistake they don't go with USB C. It's much more robust mechanically than types A and B. Plus, it won't be long until the vast majority of phones uses type C (give it another year or, at most, two).

Gshumway

I kinda found it funny that the Apple iPad Pro 2018 came with USB-C, but the iPhone XS is still lightning.

Aus_Mal

Most of the cables in the world have a USB A male socket to plug into the charging source. The world has not, and won't quickly adopt USB C male sockets as the charging source.

Apple seems to think the world revolves around them. Quite simply it doesn't.

Paren

Or at least consider one of each (A and C)? Allows existing users of USB-A to continue charging their devices whilst future proofing it for USB-C.

mikebg

I collected a rental car from LHR T5 recently. Can't remember the brand, but it ONLY had USB-C sockets. Very annoying indeed! Fortunately, I have a charger which plugs into the 12V socket (what used to be called the "lighter socket"). I learned a lesson though, and bought a few tiny little plugs to convert USB-C to my cables which are (still) USB-A. So I may be able to manage next time round. However, I would think that for most people having USB-C will be less, rather than more convenient.

HFHFFlyer

I don't think USB-C is an Apple product is it?

My PC and a lot of Samsung phones have them too, as does my Samsung SSD. I thought the point of USB-C was that it was to become a universal connector.

xnetco

V800

By 2025 when USB-D will be the new standard BA will have finished the rollout of decorative USB-C sockets with no power supply connected at the back in all of their lounges.

Aus_Mal

USB-C is the newest form of USB and is a global standard. However the world still doesn't exclusively use USB C, nor are the ports backward compatible with earlier plugs. So the majority of passengers would be disappointed by this change.

The earlier suggested idea of having one USB C socket and a USB A socket as well is a good one. Just not exclusively USB C as the world isn't ready for it.

Starship73

I'm still struggling to understand the issue here to be honest – if you can charge your device from a wall socket on the ground, then you can charge it from the equivalent socket provided on board the aircraft, can't you? Or am I missing something? Do people generally not bother to carry the chargers that come with their devices? A USB A socket isn't really powerful enough to charge the latest tablets anyhow.

Quark999

That is kinda the problem that USB-PD and USB-C are trying to solve - rather than everyone having to bring their own chargers and having to provide power sockets AND USB-A/C, you will only need a USB-C socket and cable in the future, even though a MacBook Pro power brick would be quite a different beast to a flimsy chinese phone charger. At the moment, USB-A vs. USB-C kind of differentiates these very different power profiles, but USB-C is moving "downmarket" (as it should) to be come a universal connector standard, and USB-PD allows different profiles to really power/charge every gadget under the sun.

So USB-C + decent USB-PD power profiles will in theory be able to power everything from a USB fan to a gaming notebook. But there are still a lot of incompatibilities out there. And on that subject:
It CAN consume 87W over USB-PD. But it doesn't have to. In fact, my MacBook pro works and charges perfectly fine on 45W, which allows me to carry a much smaller power adapter than Apple ships. But it charges more slowly, and I can't hang the plethora of USB-powered peripherals off it that Apple would like to sell me. So that's the perfect example where a lower USB-PD profile *might* work, but it depends on what you do with it. USB-PD is still undergoing revisions. If the specifications change, then that might be a problem for future compatibility on a plane, and it's also quite possible that some of the USB-C solutions starting to get implemented don't go all the way to 100W, because very few laptops need it.

But that's not that different to the situation today - USB-A ports aside, which everyone knows to be quite low-power, you wouldn't expect to be able to plug in your kettle into the mains socket on a plane either

plunet

The view taken at where I work is that we only provide mains power and not USB of any form...

1. Because of ongoing movement in standards USB, not only around physical outlet but also the power supply available will continue to evolve, and then we are on the hook to change USB power outlets.
2. Keeping it simple - that we only provide utility mains makes it simple and consistent.
3. We are potentially on the hook when a consumer of USB power then makes a claim that 'your usb power damaged my device which now won't charge any more'. Presenting mains power and expecting users to bring the correct power supply for their device eliminates this risk.
4. There is a small but non-zero infosec risk of being able to make a data connection to a device through what appears to be a usb power connection, although most devices do require the user to agree to a usb connection that is anything other than power only.
​​​​​​5. Testing that a USB outlet gives all the various power combinations safely is non-trivial, testing a mains outlet is simpler and there are simple cost-effective test devices that electricans can use to do this.

Pascoe

I have recently switched to a chromebook for at least my shorthaul business travel (as when I get to head office I am confident I can grab a PC somewhere given the size of the office and the team, less so at other 'outstations').

Part of the reason for the switch was so that one charger could charge all my devices if needs be, Granted, as I think has already been said on this thread, most chargers designed for phones and other smaller devices aren't going to charge up a chromebook quickly, but they will keep it ticking along for longer if you're using it at the same time.

And tbh I have been surprised just what good performance I am getting out of it (both compute performance and battery life) and just how much of what I need to do I can do on it. So I am a bit of a convert.

And as for the original topic, it probably helps that I have a Blackberry KeyOne (yes how very retro of me) so both phone and laptop for me are USB-C

Still carry a shedload of cables though - some habits die hard......

Quark999

Every time I have tried to shed cables or adapters (and, like you, I have bought some devices specifically with this in mind), something else has cropped up where I definitely needed something that I did not have on me (hello Jabra). So I have resigned myself to carrying one travel adaptor with USB-A built in, one with USB-A and low wattage USB-C, a Mu USB-C adapter (the smallest I have seen that charges my Macbook Pro), and a whole stash of various 3-in-1 cables, which break in regular intervals but are still really convenient. I've even started carrying a USB extension lead for the 50% of hotels where the closest power socket to the bed is somewhere across the hallway. Grrr!

Travel gadgets is a bit of a hobby of mine to be honest - I swear I have spent so much money on cables and chargers that I could have bought some new gadgets instead, but I just can't resist if there's something new that's 3-in-1, foldable, retractable etc. And it's really satisfying when I find something that works for me, out of five attempts or so that gather dust on a shelf somewhere!

I'm just glad I was able to permanently say goodbye to the beast of a Dell power brick for my old laptop from two generations ago, and can finally travel with just the Mu. That in itself must have saved me a few years of back pain...

Deltus

Me too! It is my only USB-C device, but I have invested in no fewer than 9 micro-USB to USB-C converters, so I always have one to hand.