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best USB C cableAnker/Business Insider

The MicroUSB charging port is slowly but surely disappearing from smartphones and tablets, and USB Type-C is taking its place. USB-C ports can now be found on laptops, tablets, smartphones, and even mobile gaming consoles like the Nintendo Switch.

Although it’s annoying to change out all your charging cables and accessories, the USB-C port and the USB 3.1 standard do have many advantages. For example, USB-C cables are reversible, charge your devices faster, and transfer data more quickly.

However, just like the lightning cables, there are a lot of faulty USB-C cables out there that could fry your device by drawing too much power, so be careful. USB standards can be confusing, and some manufacturers haven’t followed them properly. You can read all about the technicalities behind the standards for USB-C 3.1 cables and the various issues that have caused problems in this great piece by Android Authority.

Amazon recently started to crack down on faulty USB-C cables, and Google engineer Benson Leung has been testing USB-C cables to see if they meet the official standards and work as promised. You can follow his exploits on his Google+ page and read all his USB-C cable reviews on his Amazon account page.

Your best bet is to stick with cables from known brand names and the ones on our list. Whether you need a long cable, a short one, a cheap one, one that has USB-C on both ends, or one that has USB-C to USB-A; we’ve got a cable for you in our buying guide. We’ve tested many of these cables ourselves, and those we haven’t are tried and true by Leung or other reliable reviewers.

Note that some of these cables may not charge devices with QuickCharge technology at full speed

USB-C to USB-C cables vs. USB-C to USB-A cables

USB c vs AAnker/Business Insider

You can get most of our recommended cables in two different formats: USB-C to USB-C or USB-C to USB-A . To highlight the difference, we’ve color-coded the two different types of cables throughout this guide. Here’s a breakdown of which cable is which:

  • Buy USB-C to USB-C cables if you have two devices with USB-C ports that you need to connect. Example: Connecting a Samsung Galaxy S8 (or another USB-C Android phone) to a 2016 MacBook Pro (or another USB-C laptop).
  • Buy USB-C to USB-A cables if you have a USB-C device that you need to connect to an older device with a USB-A port. Example: Connecting a Samsung Galaxy S8 (or other USB-C Android phone) to an older laptop or one that only has USB-A ports.

Here are the best USB-C cables:

Updated on 11/21/2018 by Malarie Gokey: Added the Native Union Night Cable and updated pricing.

Read on in the slides below to check out our top picks.