USB-C is becoming a universal standard, and it's great that we won the war for a universal connector. But in turn, we've lost the battle for universal compatibility. Right now, you probably have five identical-looking cables on your desk; one charges your laptop at 240W but transfers data at USB 2.0 speeds, another handles 80 Gb/s data transfer but can't power a monitor and, lastly, you have the mystery cable that came with your electric toothbrush.

Unfortunately, USB-C has become a standard physical shape that acts as a container for dozens of conflicting protocols. It hasn't eliminated the need for multiple cables; instead, it's made it harder to identify which cable is which when you're in a pinch. While it might make it seem like one cable fits all, this unfortunately just isn't the case.

The many kinds of USB-C

Unfortunately, they're not all the same

USB-C is a 24-pin housing. What actually goes on inside depends on the controller behind the port. It might feel like you're plugging in a cable that fits, but in turn, it's not actually charging your device or transferring data the way that you want it to, which can be a frustrating experience.

You might plug a USB-C cable into a monitor and still see a "no signal" despite the cable fitting perfectly. The reality is not every single USB-C port is wired for video. For a port to work with a monitor, it must support DisplayPort alternate mode (DP alt mode). Many budget laptops or sometimes even high-end gaming motherboards use USB-C ports purely for data transfer and skip the expense of video routing.

Another issue you might face is the cable bottleneck. Even if your PC supports it, your cable might not. A standard charging cable, like the one that comes with a phone, often only has internal pins for USB 2.0 data transfer and power. It lacks the high speed lanes required to carry a DisplayPort signal. In turn, your laptop might charge from the monitor, and your mouse plugged into the monitor's hub might work, but the screen stays black because the video highway on the cable isn't physically present.

Let's take another scenario. You plug your laptop in using a USB-C cable which fits perfectly, but then you get the pop-up of a slow charger warning. Until recently, USB-C Power Delivery was capped at 100W, however USB-PD 3.1 has introduced Extended Power Range pushing the ceiling to 240W. The EU's USB-C mandate is largely credited with an industry-wide shift to USB-C, but this mandate does not require manufacturers to incorporate the latest PD revisions or the highest power levels. Manufacturers are free to implement only the minimum PD profiles required for compliance. What this means is that manufacturers can implement a much faster proprietary charging protocol on top of the minimum PD profile required for compliance.

One example of where this is a problem is when you pair an older 60W rated cable with a gaming laptop that needs 180W. The laptop sees the cable's limit and refuses to pull more power to prevent the wire from melting resulting in slow charging. On devices made for gaming, this will result in the GPU likely downclocking to its lower power state, making it not ideal for gaming, especially for AAA titles. Not only are you charging slower, but you're physically losing performance because the cable isn't certified for the higher voltage used in EPR.

Another issue you might encounter is the Thunderbolt 5 and USB 4 Version 2.0 dilemma. They're very similar protocols, both offering the same speed while enforcing different rules. Both standards now hit 80 Gb/s and up to 120 Gb/s for video, but they are not identical cables. Thunderbolt 5 can be thought of as the premium version of USB 4 Version 2.0. Thunderbolt 5 guarantees high-speed PCIe data throughout, which is mandatory for external GPUs and ultra-fast NVMe enclosures. However, USB 4 Version 2.0 makes this optional. You could buy a USB 4 Version 2.0 laptop that hits 80 Gb/s for video but chokes your external SSD to much lower speeds because it lacks PCIe tunnelling and has to fall back on USB Bulk Transport.

Both of these cables also perform differently when it comes to daisy-chaining. Thunderbolt 5 supports native daisy chaining, meaning you can connect monitor A to monitor B and then to your PC. However, USB 4 Version 2.0 generally requires a hub or a dock to split the signal.

A general rule of thumb is that if you see the lightning bolt logo next to a port, you're probably getting the full suite of features. But if you see just USB 4, it's worth checking the fine print to see if PCIe data or multi-monitor support was actually implemented by the manufacturer.

Two steps forward, one step back

An attempt has been made to rectify the issue

As we move into 2026, manufacturers are slowly beginning to implement new logos. You might notice a Thunderbolt logo or a USB 4 marker next to a port on your laptop. However, whilst your ports are all nicely labeled, your cables themselves still aren't, which means you can still fall victim, very easily, to the draw of cables conundrum.

The Windows Hardware Compatibility Programme (WHCP) has also stepped in to play the bad cop role. Microsoft has issued a mandate that if a laptop wants that "Certified for Windows" sticker, it can no longer play port roulette.

The two main features it stands by are unified functionality in which every USB-C port on a certified device must now support the big three: data transfer, charging, and display output. The second is thunderbolt compatibility — any system advertising USB 40 Gbps must be fully compatible with Thunderbolt 3 peripherals. No more "this dock only works with the left port."

However, no matter how well your laptop is labeled, the cable you found in your drawer probably isn't. Sometimes you may find that cables have these logos printed on the rubber housing, but more often than not they're usually only on the retail box which you've probably thrown out years ago. Whilst this mandate has fixed the PC, it hasn't fixed the ecosystem.

Invest in a label maker

Avoid melting cables with some good old-fashioned labeling

USB-C becoming the universal standard was a step in the right direction. It gave us the what (the plug) but failed on the how (the experience). Unfortunately, the best way forward to avoid falling victim to the miscellaneous draw of cables which might end up hindering your device's performance is to actually label your cables the moment they come out of the box. This way you're not playing Russian roulette with your bandwidth.