Technologies

iPhone 15 and USB-C: Expect a Cable Mess, but You Might Not Mind

Commentary: USB-C’s versatility in charging and data transfer brings complications that millions of customers will now get to experience firsthand.

I love USB-C, the data and charging port I first encountered in my 2016 MacBook Pro that’s now spread to almost every device in my life.

I wanted a USB-C iPhone in 2018, back when Apple first added that tech to the iPad Pro. I grew more optimistic in 2021, when Apple spread USB-C to lower-end iPads. And though I’m skeptical that regulation is the best way to direct product development, I’m not displeased that the European Union has now pushed Apple toward USB-C. Charging everything with USB-C is great for me.

But here’s the bad news: Millions of people likely to enter the USB-C ecosystem will encounter the technology’s ugly side, too, with the iPhone 15 line, expected to be announced on Sept. 12.

See also: Apple’s Wonderlust Event: How to Tune In and What to Expect

The utility and flexibility of USB-C are tainted by confusion over just what the heck comes along with that USB-C port on the side of a device and the cable you plug into it. In short, it’s not always obvious whether your device or cable supports high-speed data transfer, high electrical power for fast charging, both, or neither.

If the rumors are right, the iPhone 15 will ship with a USB-C port and charging cable that’ll give customers a taste of the trouble. That cable reportedly will be fine for charging but will transfer data at a mere 480 megabytes per second, the poky speed that arrived with the USB 2.0 standard from 2000.

More from the Apple event

For most folks, the problem is likely to be merely an inconvenience. But it reflects the difficulties of the vast USB ecosystem, where the pressure to keep costs low is fierce and certification isn’t required. USB-C is a much faster, more useful connection technology than the Apple Lightning port iPhone users have had since 2012, but Apple customers will have to endure some pain leaving the cozy Lightning world.

Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment for this article, but if those USB-C iPhones really do arrive, we’ll get a chance to hear how the company explains this major change on what’s arguably the single most important gadget on the planet.

The triple whammy USB mess

Part of the problem with USB is that the term actually refers to three separate standards. Let me explain.

The original standard, Universal Serial Bus, governs how devices identify themselves and send data across a connection. USB arrived in 1996 with a top speed of 12Mbps, but USB 2.0 was much more useful at 480Mbps, enough for printers and thumb drives. The first big speed jump after that was USB 3.0 in 2008 at 5 gigabits per second, better for external hard drives. Successors hit 10Gbps, 20Gbps, and most recently 40Gbps with USB 4. The upcoming USB 4 version 2 should reach 80Gbps. That’s good for high-performance storage systems, fast networks, and big, high-resolution monitors.

The next standard is USB-C, which refers only to the oval-shaped connector technology. Earlier in USB-C’s history, it was common for Android phones to support only slow USB 2.0 data transfer speeds, though that problem has faded with newer models. The newest USB standard, USB 4.0, requires USB-C ports, so as time goes by, it’ll be fairer to equate USB-C with high speed.

Last is USB PD, short for Power Delivery, which governs how USB is used for charging at rates up to 240W. Most devices don’t require that much power, but they do need to know how to negotiate electrical matters — for example, whether a portable battery should charge your laptop or vice versa.

A compact USB-C charging cable with dark gray aluminum cable ends on one side and a keychain loop at the other. The cable rests across three fingers of a person's hand.

Having three standards — USB, USB-C and USB PD — makes it harder to understand the abilities of all your devices and cables.

Worse, plenty of device manufacturers trying to cut costs and quickly ship products skip the certification process that the USB Implementers Forum offers. Unlike with Intel’s Thunderbolt, which developed the fast data transfer approach in modern USB, there’s no requirement to pass tests.

Low costs fuel USB-C’s problems

Nobody wants to spend $60 instead of $15 for a USB cable. But be careful: You get what you pay for, roughly. It’s more expensive to build cables that support high-speed data or high-power charging. One rule of thumb: Cables billed as «charging cables» in my experience don’t bother with the extra cost of high-speed data support. That includes the USB-C cables Apple itself shipped with MacBooks for several years.

One affordable cable I saw billed itself as a USB 4 product, but on deeper inspection, it turned out to support only USB 2.0 data transfer. Either the manufacturer was confused, lying, or trying to argue that the cable would work in a USB 4 port even if it only supported slow data rates. (USB’s good backward compatibility means slower, older products generally still work fine when attached to newer ones.)

I haven’t struggled too much with the slow cable problem. Mostly I use USB-C for charging, and my devices that need fast connections stay attached to their own fast cables.

But problems can happen. A couple of months ago, when I got a new Canon mirrorless camera, I was caught on a trip with slow cables that really bogged down the process of transferring photos to my laptop.

When USB-C is a problem and when it’s not

The good news for future iPhone owners is that most of them won’t have to care much about whether they have a slow cable.

Data rates were more important in the olden days when we used iTunes to sync music and photos between laptops and iPhones. Even as photo and video files have exploded in size with 50-megapixel phone cameras and 4K video, most of us get that data off our phones with mobile networks, Wi-Fi and AirDrop, not with cables.

USB-C Everywhere

That’s the big reason Apple could mostly justify shipping an iPhone 15 with a USB 2.0 cable.

Now, for serious data hogs, the kind of person who’s shooting many gigabytes of 4K ProRes video, a faster cable is useful. Indeed, it’s one reason I’ve been annoyed with the Lightning port on my iPhone. Those customers will, I hope, generally be discriminating enough to find a high-quality cable for their needs — or, if rumors are correct, just use the faster cable that Apple will ship with iPhone Pro models.

I prefer buying USB-C products that passed USB-IF’s compliance testing. I look for the USB-IF certifications, and I love it when companies like Plugable attach clear descriptive labels so we don’t have to decode USB-IF icons. (And most products don’t even have icons.)

A close-up view of the USB-C and Lightning connectors at the ends of an Apple charging cable.

But if you’re nervous about doing the product comparisons yourself, you can always let Apple sales staff steer you to higher-end Apple USB-C accessories that generally work well together even if they’re often more expensive than third-party products.

USB-C transition less painful than Lightning

There was plenty of kvetching when Apple switched to the Lightning port, even though it was clear Lightning was superior to the bulky, fragile 30-pin connector that preceded it. I’m expecting more complaints with the iPhone’s USB-C switch as people discover that all those cables they have stashed in glove boxes, office desks, school backpacks and bedside tables have become obsolete.

But the good news is that USB-C is already very well established, and not just on MacBooks and many iPads. The oval-shaped connector is on modern Android phones, Windows laptops, Nintendo Switch gaming consoles, iPad Pro and Air tablets, Sony noise-canceling headphones and countless other devices. There’s a good chance a lot of us already have some spare USB-C cables lying around.

When I talk to USB-IF executives about the USB-C’s labeling problems, they assure me that most people don’t notice any sort of bother, and that the gradually maturing technology will mean incompatibilities and product shortcomings eventually will slip into the back of our collective junk drawers.

I hope so. For me, the flexibility and power of USB-C is well worth the pain. But I do wish there wasn’t so much pain.

Technologies

These Smart Glasses Would Adjust Focus on the Fly Based on Your Eye Movements

A Finnish company is building glasses with lenses that can adapt instantly to the wearer’s needs.

While some of the world’s biggest tech companies including Meta, Google and (reportedly) Apple are eyeing the future of smart glasses, startups are working on a major innovation for the other kind of glasses. The regular kind, worn by billions across the world.

One of those startups, Finland-based IXI Eyewear, has raised more than $40 million from investors including Amazon to build glasses with adaptive lenses that could dynamically autofocus based on where the person wearing them is looking.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

In late 2025, the company said it had developed a glasses prototype that weighs just 22 grams. It includes embedded sensors aimed at the wearer’s eyes and liquid crystal lenses that respond accordingly. According to the company, the autofocus is «powered by technology hidden within the frame that tracks eye movements and adjusts focus instantly — whether you’re looking near or far.»

By contrast, smart glasses like Meta’s Ray-Bans and Ray-Bay Displays as well as Xreal and Google’s Project Aura are leaning into cameras that look out at the world around the user and AI-powered features such as facial recognition, language translation and recording photos and video. Lenses tend to be a secondary consideration.

IXI told CNN in a story published Tuesday that it’s expecting to launch its glasses within the next year. It has a waitlist for the glasses on its website but has not said in what regions they’ll be available.

While the goal is to make these glasses an improvement on traditional bifocals and progressive lenses, the IXI glasses likely won’t be a fully seamless experience. «The center part is the sharp area, and then there is the edge where the liquid crystal stops and which is not that great to look into, but the center area is large enough that you can use that for reading,» CEO Niko Eiden told CNN. «So, we do have our own distortions that we’re introducing, but the majority of the time, they will not be visible.»

The IXI glasses won’t be cheap. «We will be in the really high end of existing eyewear,» Eiden said.

IXI didn’t immediately respond to CNET’s request for additional comment.

This type of technology is also being pursued by Japanese startups Elcyo and Vixion, which already has a product with adaptive lenses embedded in the middle of the lenses (they do not look like standard glasses).

Technologies

My Clicks Communicator Hands-On: Boldly Going Where Phones Have Been Before

The new Android handset is meant to be a secondary phone optimized for messaging, with a BlackBerry-like physical keyboard, headphone jack and other features lost to time.

It’s one thing to have a great idea and another to actually make it a reality. The newly announced Clicks Communicator phone, from the keyboard phone case company of the same name, is a refreshing breath of fresh air that is also oh-so-familiar. You might easily mistake it for a BlackBerry phone from circa 2007, and that’s because it was designed by a former BlackBerry designer. However, it runs Android 16 and has a nifty, minimalist app launcher that looks sleek and contemporary. In the hour I spent learning about it and using a non-working prototype, the Clicks Communicator quickly became my favorite CES gadget in years.

The Communicator is a surprisingly smart take that combines old and new phone features in a way that, aside from Motorola, very few phone makers have successfully done before. It’s a straightforward-to-use Android smartphone with seemingly every popular feature that companies have removed over the past decade.

In its small design, there is a physical keyboard, a notification alert light, a headphone jack, a physical SIM card tray, support for a microSD card and buttons, oh so many buttons. Jony Ive’s soul must be hurting right now.

At a time when phones have become overly complicated, AI-centric attention stealers, the Clicks Communicator aims to provide an experience optimized for typing and voice-to-text recording, all while minimizing distractions. It’s designed to be a secondary device that complements your regular smartphone. The idea is similar to what Palm tried almost a decade ago, when it sold a small Android phone meant to complement larger ones. However, Palm’s phone didn’t offer amenities like a physical keyboard.

«Communicator is to a smartphone what a Kindle is to an iPad,» said Jeff Gadway, chief marketing officer at Clicks, in a press release. «It’s a complementary product that stands on its own, optimized for a specific purpose. In the case of Clicks Communicator, that means communicating with confidence in a noisy world.»

We expect our smartphones to do anything we want, but that often means compromising on how features are implemented. On an iPhone 17 Pro, for example, I can definitely type and respond to texts, emails and jot down the occasional random thought in the Notes app. But for me, and I expect many others, I have a much more enjoyable experience typing on a physical keyboard. I prefer to use a laptop to respond to a long or complex email versus writing it on a phone.

But the Communicator’s singular focus on input, along with the fact that it can be your only phone, unlocks a much wider appeal (at least on paper). I could see the Communicator being the ideal «work» phone for those jobs where you want a separate device from your personal smartphone. You could quickly respond to a Slack thread without being tempted to check out TikTok or Instagram.

It might be an attractive option to a growing number of people who crave a phone that doesn’t need all their attention every damn minute. This could be someone burnt out from being obsessively online or someone who misses having a physical keyboard and features like a headphone jack. It could appeal to a person who wants a minimal-feeling smartphone like the Light Phone and Punkt, which each have their own take on what a less distracting phone might look like.

The Communicator costs $499 and launches later this year. However, you can preorder the phone for $399 or reserve one for $199 right now. It joins the Clicks Keyboard Pro and Keyboard Case.

«We’re really trying to help have people see us as a company that’s building purpose-built tech for people who want to do shit and not doom scroll,» Gadway told me.

Clicks Communicator’s stand-out features

Name: The phone is named in part for the iconic handheld voice device from Star Trek. Clicks co-founder Michael Fisher also explained that calling the device a «communicator» really captures what the phone was designed for: to provide the best typing and voice-to-text experience (in terms of both hardware and software) that you’ll find on a phone.

Design: The phone is compact. Its aluminum frame and polycarbonate body felt solid in my hand. Small phone lovers, this one seems aimed at you. It weighs only 170 grams. Compare that to the iPhone 17 Pro, which is 206 grams. It’s roughly the size of a small SSD or magnetic battery pack. It has a 4-inch screen and a keyboard similar to the one found on the Clicks keyboard case — with keys that are 43% larger on the Communicator.

Android 16 and Niagara launcher: The Communicator runs on Android 16 and has a custom version of the Niagara app launcher. Messages from apps like WhatsApp, Telegram and Slack are curated directly on the home screen, allowing people to review and respond quickly without having to open and jump between apps.

Prompt Key and Signal light: On the right side of the phone is a button called the Prompt Key. You press and hold it to record voice-to-text. Surrounding the button is the Signal light (think Android notification light from years ago) that makes it easy to distinguish messages and notifications at a glance. It can be customized with different colors and light patterns to glow when getting messages from specific people, groups, or apps.

Removable backplate: The back has a sloped, ergonomic, and interchangeable plate — think Moto X. During my briefing, there were half a dozen different plates made of polycarbonate and leather. The backplate also supports Qi2.2 wireless charging.

Other features:

50-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization
24-megapixel front camera
4,000 mAh silicon-carbon battery
256GB onboard storage plus expandable microSD
Physical SIM card tray and eSIM
A 3.5mm headphone jack
Android 16 with 5 years of security updates
Global 5G, 4G LTE, and 3G/2G support, unlocked
NFC with Google Pay, Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi 6
USB-C and wireless charging
4,000mAh battery
A 3.5mm headphone jack
A configurable mute switch

Technologies

Xbox Set to Bring Resident Evil, Star Wars and More to Xbox Game Pass

Subscribers can play several other games, including the original Final Fantasy in all its 2D glory, on Game Pass in January.

Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth game in the main Resident Evil series, is set to be released on Feb. 26. Xbox Game Pass subscribers can prepare for Requiem by playing Resident Evil Village, the most recent entry in the series, starting on Jan. 20.

Xbox Game Pass offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV, smart TV and PC or mobile device, with prices starting at $10 a month. While all Game Pass tiers offer you a library of games, Game Pass Ultimate ($30 a month) gives you access to the most games, as well as Day 1 games, like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, added monthly.

Here are all the games subscribers can play on Game Pass soon. You can also check out other games the company added to the service in December, including Marvel Cosmic Invasion.

Note: «Handheld» means a game is optimized for handheld play.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Brews & Bastards (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S)

Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers can play now.

What’s a hero gotta do to get a drink around here? Choose an inebriated hero to travel deep under a tavern in search of the stolen Brew Stone. You’ll explore tavern-themed dungeons and use bar-inspired weapons, like high-caliber champagne bottles, to blast through drunken demons and other boozy monsters. And if you’ve ever called one of your exes a drunken demon, maybe this game will be a little cathartic for you.

Little Nightmares Enhanced Edition (Cloud, handheld, PC and Xbox Series X/S)

Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers can play now.

Little Nightmares is back in high-quality 4K and 60FPS in this enhanced edition of the dark tale. You play as a lone child trapped in a massive world inhabited by monstrous versions of adults called the Maw. All you can do is run from these creatures, but you’ll also have to sneak and hide to throw them off your trail if you want to survive.

Atomfall (Cloud, console, handheld and PC)

New to Game Pass Premium on Jan. 7. Previously on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

The Windscale fire was the worst nuclear disaster in the UK’s history, and it’s estimated that it caused between 100 and 240 cancer-related deaths. And Atomfall asks, «What if Windscale was similar in magnitude to the disaster at Chornobyl?»

This game takes place five years after a more devastating Windscale disaster. You’ll encounter gangs of bandits, cults and rogue government agencies throughout the quarantine zone in the Lake District, Cumbria. It’s up to you whether you avoid conflict or charge into the heat of battle, but resources are scarce, so maybe don’t go in guns blazing every chance you get.

Lost in Random: The Eternal Die (Cloud, Xbox Series X/S, handheld and PC)

New to Game Pass Premium on Jan. 7. Previously on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

You’re the once-great ruler of Random, Queen Aleksandra, and you’re on a mission of vengeance and redemption in this fast-paced rogue-like game. You’ll fight monsters and beasts with four unique weapons, plus powerful card-based abilities and relics. But death isn’t final here, so if you fall, you’ll return to Sanctuary to rearm, upgrade and prepare for your next run.

Rematch (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S)

New to Game Pass Premium on Jan. 7. Previously on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

Tackle, dribble and score in this team-based football game (or soccer, depending on your locale). This game was designed for 5v5 online multiplayer matches where players control a single athlete. That means you’ll have to coordinate and plan with the rest of your co-op teammates if you want to win. And with no player stats to give one person an advantage over another, coordination is the key to success.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S)

New to Game Pass Premium on Jan. 7. Previously on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

You are Capt. Demetrian Titus, an Ultramarine in the Imperium of Man, and it’s up to you and your squad to help reclaim the Forge World Graia from an Ork horde. Originally released in 2011, this third-person shooter has been remastered for modern consoles with enhanced character models, a modernized control scheme and more. So grab your chainsword and bolter and get ready to fight. For the Emperor!

Final Fantasy (Cloud, Xbox Series X/S and PC)

Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on Jan. 8.

This is the game that started it all. Join the Warriors of Light on a journey to restore power to the Crystals and save their home world. The remastered version of this game brings improved gameplay features, like auto-battle and more, to your screen.

Star Wars Outlaws (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X/S)

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on Jan. 13.

Luke Skywalker and the Jedis are cool and all, but who didn’t want to be a cool smuggler like Han Solo? This open-world Star Wars game lets you become just that. You play as Kay Vess, a scoundrel looking for freedom and a new life. You’ll fight, steal and outsmart crime syndicates from around the galaxy. But the Empire is out there, too, so watch your back.

My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery (Cloud, console, handheld and PC)

Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on Jan. 15.

Go on an adventure with Sunny, Hitch, Izzy, Pipp, Zipp and Misty as you try to solve a mystery together. Strange music is turning the world upside down, and it’s up to you and your friends to use your powers to put a stop to the music.

Resident Evil Village (Cloud, console and PC)

Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass subscribers can play on Jan. 20.

The latest entry in the mainline Resident Evil series puts you back in the shoes of Ethan Winters as he ventures into a haunting European village in search of his abducted daughter. You’ll fight lycans, vampires and other monstrous creatures as you try to uncover why your daughter was taken and your wife was murdered.

MIO: Memories in Orbit (Cloud, handheld, PC and Xbox Series X/S)

Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass subscribers can play on Jan. 20.

Get ready to explore a treacherous ship in this sci-fi metroidvania game. You play as Mio, a nimble android that wakes up in the Vessel, a spaceship drifting aimlessly through the stars. The ship’s machines have gone rogue and vegetation has taken over parts of the Vessel. It’s up to you to figure out what happened to the Vessel and the ship’s purpose.

Games leaving Xbox Game Pass on Jan. 15

While Microsoft is bringing those games to different Game Pass tiers this month, the company is also removing these games from the service on Jan. 15. So, you still have some time to complete your campaign or any sidequests before you have to purchase these games separately.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
Neon White
Road 96
The Ascent
The Grinch: Christmas Adventures

For more on Xbox, discover other games available on Game Pass now and check out our hands-on review of the gaming service. You can also learn about recent changes to the Game Pass service.