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Devices like Apple's most recent MacBook (pictured) use USB Type-C ports for charging.
# port of call
An engineer managed to get dodgy USB cables banned on Amazon
And all it took was a fried Chromebook to make it possible.
AMAZON IS MAKING it much harder for faulty USB cables that could damage your device to be sold on its site.
The decision was taken after a Google engineer named Benson Leung began testing USB Type-C (USB-C) cables sold on Amazon. The ports used are smaller than traditional USB cables and can be used for charging devices as well as transfering info between devices.
After discovering a flaw with the OnePlus 2′s fast-charging feature – they would work with the OnePlus 2 but not with other compatible devices – he started testing out other USB-C cables.
However, one review went horribly wrong earlier this year, a miswired USB-C cable ended up seriously damaging his Chromebook Pixel.
“I directly analyzed the Surjtech cable using a Type-C breakout board and a multimeter, and it appears that they completely miswired the cable,” he said in his review. “Needless to say, this cable is fundamentally dangerous. Do not buy this under any circumstances”.
The message seems to have reached Amazon as he posted an update saying how the company will now ban those who sell such faulty products.
The new entry to prohibited products reads ”Any USB-C (or USB Type-C) cable or adapter product that is not compliant with standard specifications issued by ‘USB Implementers Forum Inc.’”
Granted it doesn’t mean dodgy ones won’t slip through the net but if any companies are thinking about selling bad or intentionally misleading cables, then the possibility of being banned from Amazon might make them think twice before doing so.
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