Strange comment. My USB C cables have only ever failed around the strain relief after lengthy use, as with any cable that gets handled a lot. I've got a few where I can feel the resistance gradually lessening when plugging and unplugging, but nothing has failed. As someone who wants to keep devices for a while the greatest thing about the USB C power standard sounds a little like faint praise, but: pretty much all my laptops relying on USB C for power will allow me to plug power into a different USB C port if the one I habitually use wears out.

Lightning was more failure prone, not just wearing out the goofy plugs but with failures on the device side. Micro-USB was a nightmare.

Some laptops are picky about what port you use to charge them, unfortunately - I believe my laptop has only one that can charge it fast enough to keep up with full GPU use - the others are around 20W iirc.

Meh.

Anyone who has used audio devices with TRS will tell you how fragile both the female and male connections are.

Anyway, usb-c receptacles could be countersunk to help that fumbling problem. Right angle connectors could help, too.

Surely you understand how USB cables are used in reality? “Don’t wiggle it” is not practical advice.

> There’s nothing magical about the contacts in a USB connector.

Of course not. What’s special is the connector that holds it securely in place, and allows all 24 pins to make contact without shorting.

There is no perfect connector. But a common, standardized connector across applications and manufacturers, which is available now, and has most of the useful features is the next best thing.

Of course that doesn't work all that well for laptops where it would stick out and easily break when you put it in a bag, but for that one pair of headphones you like that is no longer being manufactured it's great!