Microsoft wants a version of USB-C that “just works” consistently across all PCs
We've been covering the small, reversible USB Type-C connector since the days when it was just a USB Implementers Forum tech demo, and in the decade-plus since then, the port has gradually taken over the world. It quietly migrated from laptops to game consoles, to PC accessories, to Android phones, to e-readers, and to iPhones. Despite some hiccups and shortcomings, we're considerably closer to a single connector that does everything than we were a decade ago.
But some confusion persists. A weakness built into the USB-C from the very beginning was that the specification for the physical connector was always separate from the specifications for the USB Power Delivery specification for charging, the USB-C Alt Mode specification for carrying non-USB signals like DisplayPort or HDMI, and for the USB protocol itself (that is, the data transfer speed a given port is capable of).
All of these specifications were frequently grouped together so that individual USB-C ports could handle charging, display output, and data transfers (or some combination of all three at once), but they weren'trequired to go together, so occasionally users will still run into physical USB-C ports that fall short of the port's do-everything promise.