USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives. Instead, it’s a total mess.

Techies hailed USB-C as the future of cables when it hit the mainstream market with Apple's single-port MacBook in 2015. It was a huge improvement over the previous generation of USB, allowing for many different types of functionality - charging, connecting to an external display, etc. - in one simple cord, all without having a right side up" like its predecessor.

Five years later, USB-C is near-ubiquitous: Almost every modern laptop and smartphone has at least one USB-C port, with the exception of the iPhone, which still uses Apple's proprietary Lightning port. For all its improvements, USB-C has become a mess of tangled standards - a nightmare for consumers to navigate despite the initial promise of simplicity.

Especially the charging situation with USB-C can be a nightmare. I honestly have no clue which of my U SB-C devices can fast-charge with which charger and which cable, and I just keep plugging stuff in until it works. Add in all my fiancee's devices, and it's... Messy.