Microsoft is striving to help USB-C to become generalized

The most disconcerting announcement of the Surface hardware event organized by Microsoft in New York yesterday was the choice of the port for the line of its upgraded Surface laptop and its new anti-noise headset featuring Cortana technology. On the Surface Wireless Headsets, which are a pair of high-end cans designed to compete with Bose and Sony, you have a USB-C port for charging. You will also find USB-C on Surface Go and Surface Studio 2 just announced.

However, on Surface 2 and Surface Pro 6 computers, you are still blocked by the Surface Connect proprietary charge port and the Microsoft Mini DisplayPort.

It has become common after events related to the information technology sector to complain about the choice of port in recent years, since Apple abandoned the headphone jack. But with regard to USB-C, it's becoming increasingly inexcusable that technology companies – those who promise the future now and deliver a product with one foot in the past – make the lives of their customers more difficult and heavier by refusing to integrate new applications. more modern standards for reasons that are not readily apparent.

In 2017, Pete Kyriacou, General Manager of Surface Engineering at Microsoft, explained why he did not include USB-C in his devices. He cited unreliable concentrators and consumer confusion about chargers as the main motivators for avoiding wearing. But he also added that "when the type C will be ready for our customers, to facilitate their task, we will be there". Since then, some of these problems have been alleviated (although no, I admit, fully solved).

While it is still relatively common to find gadgets from less well-known companies still using MicroUSB or proprietary load ports, Microsoft is increasingly in the minority. The Nintendo switch uses USB-C, like almost all major Android smartphones (for years). The best Bluetooth headsets from Sony, Bowers & Wilkens and others? They all also use USB-C, with a few exceptions that could hinder the adoption of USB-C by wireless headsets. A number of popular portable Bluetooth speakers (with the exception of the new Ultimate Ears Boom 3 and MegaBoom 3) incorporate USB-C, or plan to do so in models coming out later this year.

The problem is that USB-C could be a universal charging standard, but companies like Microsoft are holding it back. Microsoft's rationale for last year may be true, but one of the ways to solve the problem is to adopt USB-C in its products. The more USB-C you use, the more compatible (and reliable) accessories you will get.

Of course, you can not have this discussion without mentioning the elegant aluminum elephant of the piece: Apple. The full range of MacBooks has been upgraded to USB and, although we've all been complaining about dongles for years, directly compatible cables and accessories are starting to appear. Other PC makers – from Google to HP to Samsung – have followed suit.

But there is also the iPhone and the iPad, which still use the proprietary Lightning port instead of switching to USB-C. Three years later, the port is getting stronger, on the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR. The reasons given by Apple for preventing its iOS devices from connecting to the USB may also seem empty, but they are at least based on the physical necessities of these thin devices (not to mention the advantage that Apple derives from the control of the Lightning ecosystem via its MFI program).

Photo of Tom Warren / The Verge

This brings us back to Microsoft and explains why its new high-end Surface devices still do not use USB-C. Do not use it for power and the basic connection might make sense – after all, the Surface Connector is in many ways superior to the USB-C. The connector attaches magnetically and works with Microsoft's own range of home stations. But refusing to trade the mini DisplayPort for USB-C begins to look less like a design decision to maximize compatibility than stubbornness.

Now no one at Microsoft – and especially his exuberant Surface Manager, Panos Panoy, who personally unveiled the products yesterday with his usual infectious fervor – is actively trying to prevent customers from getting a more efficient workflow. There is probably a reasonable explanation for why devices do not have new ports, and this is probably related to the design of the device chassis.

Since these devices have mainly superior performance and a new matte black color scheme, it is reasonable to assume that Microsoft felt that it did not need to completely reorganize the underlying manufacturing and industrial design processes. Surface Pro 6 and Surface laptops. 2 just to bring the ports to speed. Although Microsoft did not explicitly say that this was the reason why it did not use USB-C, the company suggested in an interview with The edge after the event, his priority was to keep the same design and finesse.

In 2017, Kyriacou said, "I think [USB-C] There is still a long way to go before it becomes totally public. Still, it's starting to feel like Microsoft is not so interested in contributing to this goal.