USBC

Most phones this year are launching without wall chargers in the box, and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is no exception. Samsung first started this with the Galaxy S21 series earlier this year. You do get the USB-C to USB-C cable, but that’s pretty much it. Like Apple, Samsung is touting that this is an environmental thing, to help make boxes thinner, and save on packaging. But for some people, this really sucks. Especially after paying almost $1,799 for the new Galaxy Z Fold 3.Many of us likely have USB-C chargers at home…

Anker has announced a new $249.99 10-in-1 USB-C hub that, among other things, allows an M1-equipped MacBook to output to three external displays, MacRumors reports. It’s designed to overcome a key limitation of Apple’s M1-powered MacBooks which, by default, can only output to a single external monitor. The Anker 563 dock has a total of ten ports, including USB-C, USB-A, 3.5mm audio, and Ethernet. But we’re most interested in the display connectors, which consist of an HDMI port that can go up to 4K at 30Hz (it’s…

Apple may be considering a move to the USB-C format over its proprietary lightning port. The news comes via a Bloomberg report that suggests the move could be made as early as 2023 with that year's newest iPhone models.The only Apple products currently using lightning chargers are Airpods, Apple TV remote, the MagSafe battery pack, the MagSafe Duo charger, and the iPhone. At the same time, Apple has already switched to USB-C with the iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad Mini, and Macs. Both the iPhone and Apple Watch…

Image: Amazon Amazon on Wednesday announced that it has refreshed its entry-level Fire 7 tablet. The company's most popular tablet happens to be its cheapest, but it's getting slightly more expensive with a price increase from $49.99 to $59.99. What do you get for the extra $10? Amazon has swapped in a USB-C port for charging and data…

Power adapters have been getting smaller over the years thanks to gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology, but Ugreen’s $179.99 Nexode 200W charger is using the tech for big power. This hefty four-by-four-inch square brick can be placed on your desk and could power three, maybe even four, laptops simultaneously — or power a combination of up to six mobile devices. If you’re like me, you are a part of the remote workforce and were given a work laptop, but you also like to use your personal laptop at the same…

Amazon is updating its small and inexpensive Fire 7 tablet for the first time in three years, and it’s bringing some crowd-pleasing features: the updated tablet will feature USB-C charging, better battery life, and faster performance. Amazon is, however, raising the starting price tag a tad — from $49.99 to $59.99. Amazon says that the tablet’s quad-core processor is “30 percent faster” and that it’ll have 2GB of RAM instead of 1GB. In theory, the extra memory should make it so you can load more web pages at a time,…

Friends, some excellent news: recent reports suggest Apple will ditch the Lightning port and embrace USB-C on its gadgets from next year. There’s a problem though. If this news is excellent (which I’m certain it is), then why do I feel so sad? Before we try and unpack that mess, let’s suckle on a little slice of context. For the past several years, the writing has been on the wall for Apple’s proprietary Lightning standard. Arguably, the biggest driver behind…

The USB-C iPhone rumor reemerges almost every year, giving fans hope that Apple might finally make the switch. But up until this year, we never had any real reason to believe that Apple will replace its proprietary Lightning port on iPhone with USB-C. It seemed more likely for Apple to eliminate the current port and launch a portless iPhone instead. However, recent developments indicate that Apple might have reconsidered its iPhone ports strategy. First, the European Union might soon force smartphone vendors only…

Over the last few weeks, reports have suggested that Apple might finally ditch the lightning port and move towards a USB-C future. And I’m crossing my fingers hoping this will actually happen. First, Bloomberg and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested the iPhone 15 — which will be released next year — will sport a USB-C port. Now, a new note from Kuo suggests that some accessories would also adopt this USB charging standard: Other Lightning port products (e.g., AirPods, Magic Keyboard/Trackpad/Mouse,…

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is currently testing iPhones that replace the Lightning connector with a USB-C port. Gurman claims that if even Apple does decide to go through with this change, it won’t happen until 2023 at the earliest. This might suggest that the iPhone 15 will be the first USB-C iPhone to hit store shelves. USB-C iPhones could arrive in 2023 Gurman’s report comes just a few days after analyst Ming-Chi Kuo shared similar news on Twitter. The responses to one of Kuo’s supply…