Summary
- I still use USB-A often for fans, lamps, and power strips around the house.
- Game consoles and many PCs still rely on USB-A ports even if controllers use USB-C.
- Many chargers and bedside accessories still expect USB-A on the power end.
USB-C might be the standard nowadays, but there are still plenty of uses for USB-A. There are still plenty of reasons to pick up a USB-A cable, and I suspect that’ll remain the case for years to come as companies continue to make the switch. While I’m more of a fan of USB-C, although the cable durability leaves a lot to be desired, I use USB-A quite a bit in my house.
While you might want to see a world where everything uses the same cable, and believe me, I’m right there with you, there are still many things that still use the older USB ports. This means you can’t toss away your old cables just yet. In fact, it might be shocking to hear just how much out there relies on a USB-A port to work. It surprised me while coming up with ideas for this list. This is just a list of what I use around my house that still needs a USB-A connection to work, and there’s a good chance yours might be even longer.
All of my USB fans
Yes, all of them
I have a bunch of small USB fans I keep around my house, but mostly they are confined to my office and bedroom. In my bedroom, I have a light that has three USB-A ports that I didn’t think I’d get any use out of. As it turns out, those are perfect for a fan, and that’s how I’ve been using them. There’s no need to be worried about not having enough power, either, as it hasn’t been an issue for me.
For the ones in my office, I use them with my power strip under my desk. I’m not sure how old my power strip is, but it doesn’t have any USB-C connectors, so it’s not new enough to have modern hook-ups like other devices have. In this case, I don’t mind too much.
Video game consoles need USB-A
Controllers don’t, but the console does
Your Xbox Series X controllers might have USB-C ports on them to plug in a cable, but that doesn’t mean the cable running from your console has the same port. You’ll notice that your Xbox doesn’t have a USB-C port on it, but that it relies on the older USB-A format instead. This has been the norm for several console generations now, and we’re just now seeing some of them come around. Notably, the PS5 has USB-C ports on the front while its competitor, the Xbox Series X, does not.
The PS5 still has USB-A ports on the back, and that might remain the case into the PS6 era, but it looks like consoles are starting to get with the times. I assume the new Xbox, if there is one, will have USB-C ports as well. For consoles older than this generation, it’s all USB-A. If you game on PC, you’ll notice most of your ports there are USB-A too, although some motherboards have started adding USB-C options.
Several different chargers use USB-A
USB-C isn’t the norm yet
My phone uses USB-C to charge, and my Apple TV remote still uses the Lightning format, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to have a USB-A port on the other end of that cable. The only ports my bedside lamp has are USB-A, and my power strips tend to have USB-A as well. This means, aside from my regular chargers, anything I want for another room has to be a variation of USB-A to USB-C or Lightning.
Thankfully, it’s not much of an annoyance since USB-A cables like this are still very prevalent, so it’s not like I’m tracking down some long-lost format or anything. I also get fast-charging, so it doesn’t feel painful to use either. Until I pick up a power strip that has USB-C ports, I’ll be using these cables for a long time.
