WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:07.440 USBC was supposed to be the one port to rule them all. One cable for your phone, 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:12.240 your laptop, your earbuds, your everything. And yet somehow, standing in 00:00:09.920 --> 00:00:16.960 front of a wall of chargers covered in watts and protocol names, you still have 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:20.560 no idea which one to buy. Maybe you should just get the cheapest one, but 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:25.359 will it start a fire in my house? Look, charger marketing is genuinely a mess. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:30.080 But buying the right charger really just comes down to five things. Let's break 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:34.880 them down. Number one, plugging a huge charger into a small device will not 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:38.640 blow it up. You're not crazy. This was a thing with older phone chargers. They 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:42.719 were basically dumb. And kind of like me in my early 20s, they hadn't learned how 00:00:40.559 --> 00:00:48.079 to communicate. Instead, they pushed voltage and it was up to you to match 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:49.520 them with the right device. USBA was 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:54.800 actually a step in the right direction here. It standardized everything at 5 00:00:52.160 --> 00:00:59.680 volts. But it was a one-sizefits-all situation that limited performance. 00:00:56.800 --> 00:01:04.320 Modern USBC chargers are smart. They're more like me in my 30s. They've read 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:07.920 Radical Acceptance by Terra Brock. The moment you plug something in, there's a 00:01:06.080 --> 00:01:13.439 conversation that happens because chargers are all built to the USB PD or 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:17.840 power delivery standard. The charger offers a menu of voltages and the device 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:21.680 picks what it wants. If the devices can't communicate at all and the 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:26.000 handshake fails, everything falls back to the slowest, safest option. This 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:30.799 actually makes buying a charger easier. now than it was in the past. Worst case, 00:01:28.720 --> 00:01:34.960 your device just charges slowly or not at all. The USB PD spec is just the 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:40.320 baseline, though. If you've ever seen marketing terms like super vou from 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:44.640 OnePlus or super fast charging from Samsung, those are proprietary 00:01:42.479 --> 00:01:48.799 extensions of the standard that allow the industry to innovate. And if you've 00:01:46.960 --> 00:01:54.159 ever wondered why most charging cables these days have USBC on either end 00:01:51.520 --> 00:01:58.719 rather than the old rectangular USBA. The negotiation between charger and 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:03.280 device is part of the reason. USBA doesn't normally have the communication 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:08.239 pins needed for that negotiation. Nor does it have the voltage and current 00:02:04.960 --> 00:02:10.800 capabilities of USBC. So when you do see 00:02:08.239 --> 00:02:16.480 it, it's with a slower charger. It's why you generally can't fast charge a laptop 00:02:12.959 --> 00:02:20.239 from a USBA port. Duh. So, what number 00:02:16.480 --> 00:02:22.800 on the box actually matters? Wattage. 00:02:20.239 --> 00:02:27.040 For charging one phone, get the highest number you can that's not higher than 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:30.959 what your device can handle, because then you'd be paying for watts you can't 00:02:28.959 --> 00:02:34.160 use. You can find out your phone's max by heading to its Wikipedia page. Or if 00:02:32.959 --> 00:02:38.560 your phone is more obscure and doesn't have a Wikipedia page, like me, but 00:02:36.160 --> 00:02:44.000 somehow has a Wiki Feet page. Anyway, uh, check GSM Arena. When in doubt, a 30 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:49.280 watt charger is probably fine for most people. again charging one phone. But 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:53.360 nowadays there are lots of multiport chargers on the market and they add 00:02:50.959 --> 00:02:59.599 another layer of confusion. Though the box may say 100 watts, that's usually 00:02:56.160 --> 00:03:02.640 only on just one or some of the ports 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:04.080 with the other ports being well less. 00:03:02.640 --> 00:03:08.239 Not only that, but plugging into multiple ports at once will cause the 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:13.840 charger to renegotiate power, splitting it and potentially slowing your phone's 00:03:10.720 --> 00:03:16.640 charging speed. Now you're ready to buy 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:20.560 a charging brick, but what about the cable between it and your device? Does 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:24.640 it matter? We spoke with George Paparzos, who oversees battery tech at 00:03:22.959 --> 00:03:29.519 Qualcomm Technologies. >> It is very uh critical. Uh but and I 00:03:27.920 --> 00:03:33.519 think that's another example where consumers don't realize uh because the 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:38.720 cables I mean most of them look the same. As a rule of thumb, the thicker 00:03:35.519 --> 00:03:41.840 the cable and the shorter the cable, the 00:03:38.720 --> 00:03:44.400 less lossy it is. So it it gives you 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:50.159 more capability. Now the standard itself like for example USBD they have two 00:03:46.959 --> 00:03:52.720 categories of cables. They specify a 3 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:57.920 cable which is the regular cable but then we also specify a firearm cable 00:03:55.760 --> 00:04:02.720 which the device and the accessory recognizes through an e-arker. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:07.760 >> Those Earkers are tiny chips hidden inside higherend cables. When you plug 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:12.400 in the charger actually asks the cable what specifications it can handle. and 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:16.880 the E-arker has the answer. If the cable can't answer properly, the charger 00:04:14.480 --> 00:04:21.120 assumes it's on the weaker side and limits the power to avoid overheating. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:25.840 So, if you're wondering why your 100 W charger is crawling with a brand new 00:04:23.440 --> 00:04:30.080 cable, the cable's probably lying about what it can do. But even a great cable 00:04:28.080 --> 00:04:34.639 and a great charger can still be catastrophically undermined by something 00:04:32.320 --> 00:04:39.440 most people never think about. And we'll get into that right after a word from 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:42.720 our sponsor, Threat Locker. If you're running a small business or a large 00:04:40.960 --> 00:04:46.479 company, all it takes is one email to have it all fall apart. 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Even though USB PD is designed to be as safe as possible, 00:05:16.479 --> 00:05:21.840 chargers can absolutely still be 00:05:19.520 --> 00:05:26.880 dangerous when manufacturers cut corners and skip things like proper electrical 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:31.600 isolation, accurate current limits, or real cable detection. That's when you 00:05:29.440 --> 00:05:35.520 can get overheating, unstable power, or in worst case scenarios, actual 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:40.479 electrical failure. If a charger is suspiciously lightweight, runs unusually 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:44.800 hot, or comes from a brand name you can't pronounce, that's your warning 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:48.639 sign. But did you say cable detection a second ago? I did, and it's honestly 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:52.639 pretty cool. A USBC charger, believe it or not, is actually off until 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:57.039 something's plugged in. Inside the charger is a tiny pullup resistor 00:05:54.960 --> 00:06:02.080 connected to the configuration channel pins. Inside your phone or laptop is a 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:06.080 pull down resistor. At the most basic level, when you plug the cable in, the 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:10.560 charger detects the voltage drop caused by that pull down resistor, confirms the 00:06:08.479 --> 00:06:14.880 device is attached, and then turns the power on. This prevents sparks, protects 00:06:13.039 --> 00:06:19.759 the connector, and avoids exposed voltage. We've all been there. It also 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:24.319 tells the charger and the cable which way you flipped the plug, which still 00:06:21.840 --> 00:06:28.800 feels like magic. The safety stuff brings us to the age-old question when 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:34.240 buying a phone charger. Does the brand matter? Are Apple chargers better? 00:06:31.440 --> 00:06:38.639 Honestly, in some cases, yes. Apple chargers specifically are subject to 00:06:36.080 --> 00:06:42.639 extremely strict compliance standards. But you do have to pay for that 00:06:40.400 --> 00:06:46.880 reliability. The good news is reputable third-party brands often use very 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:51.440 similar internal technology for less money. Really, the danger zone is the 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:55.919 gas station special or bargain bin online charger that saves a few dollars 00:06:53.759 --> 00:07:01.199 by skipping safety components. A great example of what good charging tech looks 00:06:57.919 --> 00:07:03.280 like is GAN or gallium nitride chargers. 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:08.240 For decades, chargers used silicon, which generates a lot of heat and 00:07:05.039 --> 00:07:10.800 requires bulky heat sinks to stay safe. 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:14.479 GAN is a next-gen semiconductor that is much more efficient than silicon, 00:07:12.479 --> 00:07:18.720 meaning it can handle higher voltages in a smaller space and loses way less 00:07:16.400 --> 00:07:23.840 energy to heat. That's why you can now find a 100 W charger that fits in the 00:07:20.960 --> 00:07:27.680 palm of your hand. That said, sometimes these small chargers can thermal 00:07:25.440 --> 00:07:32.800 throttle, and if they do, they'll charge more slowly for a while. That's why 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:38.479 Apple calls these 40 W dynamic power adapters with 60 watt max. They know it 00:07:35.919 --> 00:07:42.960 won't be at 60 watt all the time. And remember, charging is only half the 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:46.639 story. Data transfer has its own mess of speed, standards, and future upgrades. 00:07:45.039 --> 00:07:51.120 So, if you want a better handle on how USB data actually works and where it's 00:07:48.960 --> 00:07:56.800 heading next, check out our video on USB data transfer. And if you'll excuse me, 00:07:53.520 --> 00:08:01.080 I had to take this. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:01.080 No, you can't keep the dog.