Final yr, my finest good friend purchased me an HP Sprocket portable photo printer. This, she mentioned, would take my journaling sport to the subsequent degree. After a brief demo and dozens of journaling TikToks, I used to be stoked. After which I unboxed the rattling factor.
One other freaking Micro USB port. And proper after I’d confidently gotten rid of all however one emergency Micro USB cable.
USB-C debuted in 2014. The entire level was to create a common connector that might switch information and energy shortly, whereas additionally eliminating the scourge of proprietary chargers. The primary HP Sprocket got here out in 2016, a time when USB-C was primarily embraced by higher-end laptops and Android smartphones. However by the point my second-edition Sprocket debuted in 2018 — the final time this little printer was up to date — the usual was beginning to turn out to be mainstream.
It’s not only a random HP photograph printer. Just a few weeks in the past, I purchased a cat nail grinder that sadly costs through Micro USB. I reviewed a stress calming wearable in 2023 that relied on Micro USB. Peruse social media, and also you’ll discover individuals griping about all types of newly bought devices that also have the outdated connector: kitchen appliances, the latest Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, nearly every Roku streaming device, and Garmin bike lights. Including to shopper confusion, typically product listings don’t specify which USB cable a gadget comes with. The ports and charging cable on the Roku Streaming Stick 4K are merely described as “USB.” The photographs are ambiguous. You’d must launch the “View in 3D” characteristic to search out out it makes use of Micro USB.
After a full decade of USB-C, how is it that we’re nonetheless coping with this previous port?
“There’s so many elements like prices, provide chain, stock, and stock within the [retail] channel,” says Jeff Ravencraft, president and COO of the USB Implementers Discussion board (USB-IF). The USB-IF is a nonprofit tasked with selling and sustaining USB requirements and counts tech giants like HP, Apple, Intel, and Microsoft amongst its members.
For some devices, lengthy refresh cycles are an enormous motive why you would possibly purchase one thing in 2025 and nonetheless see a Micro USB connector. Take airplanes. Ravencraft notes that the USB-IF has been working with Panasonic Avionics, a number one supplier of inflight leisure and connectivity, to get USB-C into airplane seats. The issue is that it’d take you a very long time to see up to date ports on a future flight. Planes are designed to final 20–30 years, and upgrading a complete fleet is a pricey endeavor. You see the identical downside with vehicles, which usually have five- to 10-year refresh cycles.
Compounding that downside is stock. It’s totally potential that HP has pallets of second-edition Sprockets sitting in Amazon’s warehouse and throughout hundreds of Finest Purchase stockrooms. “Till these channels clear, that’s while you’re going to start out seeing change,” says Ravencraft.
Price, in fact, can be an element, however not essentially an enormous one. For some corporations, notably producers in Asia, being extra inexpensive than the competitors is what units them aside. If that’s the secret, each little little bit of value financial savings counts. However there might not be a ton to achieve by going that route anymore. “Is a microUSB connector that less expensive than a Sort C connector? Most likely not,” says Ravencraft.
That mentioned, there’s excellent news. The European Union began enforcing a regulation this previous December stating that “all new units bought within the EU should now help USB-C charging.” That is objectively an important factor. Much less e-waste! The foundations explicitly apply to cellphones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, headsets, online game consoles, moveable audio system, e-readers, keyboards, mice, moveable navigation techniques, and earbuds. (Laptops aren’t topic to the mandate till April 2026.) And since most tech makers need entry to the European market, this type of laws has the knock-on impact of benefitting customers outdoors the EU. Working example: Apple, a longtime holdout in opposition to USB-C, lastly caved and ditched the Lightning port with the iPhone 15.
In the future, I’ll be capable of chuck my Micro USB cables with confidence; that day simply isn’t at the moment
General, which means that most new electronics you purchase could have USB-C. Hallelujah! Sadly, the mandate isn’t hermetic. Take my HP Sprocket. The EU mandate doesn’t say a factor about printers. And what about different devices like drones, exterior microphones, smartwatches, and good glasses? The EU’s directive doesn’t forbid proprietary chargers as long as a gadget also can cost through USB-C. For instance, as we’ve reported before, a MacBook can nonetheless use MagSafe as a result of it could cost by USB-C, too.
However let’s say HP have been to lastly get with this system and, by this time subsequent yr, there’s a third-edition HP Sprocket and the one improve is a USB-C port. As a lot as I’d like to throw my cash to the wind simply to rid my lifetime of Micro USB, that’d be a waste of a wonderfully good system. And the longer the system lasts, the higher the possibility that you simply would possibly want to purchase a brand new Micro USB cable.
Working example, I’ve a Shure MV7 mic with a Micro USB port. It was launched in 2020 and discontinued in 2024, nevertheless it nonetheless works superbly. The one downside is that I sometimes have to take it with me on the go. My laptop computer solely has USB-C ports, and all my current Micro USB cables have USB-A on the opposite finish. Utilizing a dongle, of which I’ve too many, ought to have labored, besides my audio gave the impression of grime anytime I did. Certain, I may’ve purchased the newest model of the mic for $280. However a pleasant, braided Micro USB to USB-C cable prices $7. And that’s how I ended up shopping for a brand new Micro USB cable in 2025.
Even so, Ravencraft assures me it’s solely a matter of time. USB-C adoption, he says, goes effectively and is quickly rising. As extra governments comply with the EU’s lead, USB-C’s complete dominance can be inevitable. In the future, I’ll be capable of chuck my Micro USB cables with confidence. That day simply isn’t at the moment. At present, I’ll must accept holding onto my two Micro USB cables and praying nobody ever presents me one other Micro USB gadget.