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Some, but not most. And cameras have a lot longer life than other tech, so my guess would be that 99% of cameras in use don’t have the ability to connect via USB-C.


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Can't you connect modern cameras to USB-C directly, though?

All of them? I don’t have a single device that uses USB-C.

How about iPhones, as a great example? :P


Trust me, the vast majority of people do not own USB-C accessories.

A lot of phones don't have video over the USB C port (eg Google Pixels).

Between my wife and I, we have two cell phones, three laptops, and a pair of wireless headphones. Only one of those devices doesn't use USB-C- her iPhone. I don't believe the other five devices have USB-C because they were forced to.

You must be living in an entirely different universe because everyone I know uses tons of usb-c all day.

How about the most popular noise cancelling headphones, the Sony 1000XM3 (usb-c). I see them everywhere.

Some laptops? More like all laptops. Find me one being sold now without usb-c. They would be a joke. The best tablet, the iPad Pro is usb-c (though yes I know the lower end ones are lightning).

What about the best video gear. All the best mirrorless video cameras like the Panasonic GH5, Sony A7iii, Nikon Z7, Fuji T-X3, BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, all with usb-c. The best webcam out there, the Logitech Brio with usb-c.

Let's talk about specialty gear. The most popular external disk, Sandisk Portable Extreme with usb-c. The most popular mobile hotspot, the Nighthawk mobile router has usb-c. The most popular audio interface, Focusrite, uses usb-c pretty much for all their products now. The best presentation remote, the Logitech Spotlight is usb-c charging.

Me and my friends have flashlights, shavers, toothbrushes, VR headsets and remotes, all with usb-c. Great for travel.

Basically, any good product being released now is usb-c, and has been for the past couple years.


The vast majority? I suspect that is very very wrong. I own a single device that has a USB C port, and no peripherals that connect to it without an adapter, and I post on HN. It is very early for USBC yet.

Every conference room I've ever been in has had a ring of dongles attached to the cable.

The new Sony full frame cameras all have USB-C charging and very fast transfer speeds.


Very few devices use USB-C cabling. Very many mobile devices use Micro USB cabling. Most folks will have a mess of Micro USB cables on hand, but very few USB-C cables.

Your argument is sound, but you're making it four or six years too early. :)


I'm just surprised there are still a lot of mainstream accessories that aren't available in USB-C.

I bought a Logitech C920 webcam the other day (the most pouplar model)... and it's still only available in USB-A. If you want a Logitech webcam with USB-C, you've got to pay over twice as much for a model like their StreamCam.

I'm happy to use dongles for HDMI or Ethernet when I have to. But the fact that I still have to use dongles with brand-new devices that are still only made in USB-A seems ridiculous. At this rate, I don't see how we're ever going to move on.


> Type C is pretty ubiquitous by now.

Not really. From top of my head I could easily gather > 30 things at my house with the plain old USB A connector (several flash drives, keyboards, mouses, Bluetooth and WiFi adapters, smart card reader, external hdd enclosures, a stack of old laptops, r-pi, headphones, routers, playstation, tv, car diagnostics cables and probably several other things I can't remember). There are USB A connectors in all 3 cars in my family. And probably a dozen more devices with mini/micro USB - dslr camera, couple of tablets and older phones, dashcams, thermal imaging camera, powerbank...

Meanwhile there are exactly 3 devices with usb-c ports - 2 phones and one of several laptops (which also has several usb a ports). The only regular use of USB C for me is charging my phone. Everything else is on USB A or micro USB.


I don't know about you, but my flash drives, camera, and microphone are all usb-c. It sounds like you have either not upgraded your devices in a while, or bought devices with out-of-date connectors. It's pretty easy to avoid out-of-date non- usb-c accessories these days.

Perhaps, but the vast majority of devices in our house do not use USB-C. They are either still on micro-USB, or they're on lightning. I realize people's experiences differ on this, but for many people USB-C devices are not common. These people do not have charging infrastructures in their homes for USB-C devices, and transitioning means throwing away a lot of cables and such.

So after more than 5 years, USB-C is still too expensive and "overkill"?

That might be true, but then it's a massive failure. The entire point of USB-C is for the whole computing ecosystem to migrate. If that's prohibitively expensive for a common webcam, then it's an utter design failure.

But I have a hard time believig it actually is true, since I can also find a bunch of cheap USB-C stuff on Amazon as well. So I hope it's not true, at least.


I find it infuriating when things still use old, non-reversible USB. Everything I plug my Logitech 4K camera into has USB-C ports.

Maybe there is no market for them yet?

Besides phones and laptops there are not many USB-C devices out there yet. And you don't connect phones and laptops to hubs (as a guest, not a host).


No, the issue is of convenience: most devices out there are not USB-C yet. Carrying around and losing adapters makes life less convenient.

TL;DR

- USB-C is a connector and not all ports/cables/hubs support all of its features and modes. So not everything that can be connected using a USB-C will work the same way, or even at all.

- Due to their potential bandwidth demands, computers can’t have very many USB-C ports

- USB-C will be phased out and replaced before settling down


Curious: outside of people who take lots of high res video, what do people need high-speed USB C for?
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