Amazon bans cheap, non-standard USB-C cables

Like it or not, USB-C cables will be everywhere in the future. A significant number of smartphones, tablets and laptops out this year will be following in the footsteps of Apple, whose 2015 MacBook comes with a single USB-C port.

But that future needn't include cheap, low-quality cables, which are potentially hazardous to your gadgets. On Wednesday, Google engineer Benson Leung noticed that Amazon has banned USB-C cables that don't comply to industry standards.  

"Any USB-C™ (or USB Type-C™) cable or adapter product that is not compliant with standard specifications issued by “USB Implementers Forum Inc,” says a notice on Amazon's list of prohibited items. 

While that may sound like a small detail, it's actually a pretty big deal. USB Type-C (or USB-C for short) connectors are the industry's replacement for both USB Type-A and Type-B connectors, which includes the vast majority of USB connectors you use in your daily life. Being reversible (any side up is fine) and able to power both smartphones and laptops, USB-C cables are, simply put, better than previous variants, and will likely soon become ubiquitous. 

Not all cables are created equal, however. Some cheap USB-C cables are wired incorrectly or have other faults which could potentially result in permanent damage to your electronic gadgets. Frying a $1,499 Pixel 2 Chromebook, which happened to Leung, is just one example. 

Amazon's move means it'll likely be harder to buy a faulty cable from the retail giant's online shop, but not impossible. Leung notes the customers themselves need to "continue to be vigilant and call out any bad products we find on Amazon and other stores."

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