The era of magnetic charging cable is around the corner?

What kind of mobile phone charging interface do you know?

It is believed that there are three types of charging interfaces we are familiar with, and they are Micro USB, Type-C, and Lightning interface. The charging interface of mobile phones takes more forms than we know. Now, let’s look at the “evolutionary history” of the mobile phone charging interface at first.

1. Circular Interface

The earliest charging port is shaped as a circle, with Nokia phones leading the way. Generally, circular interfaces possess only one function; most of them are used for charging but file transfer is not available. The circular design makes the connection between the port on the phone and the interface vulnerable in long-term plugging and unplugging process.

Due to its single function and loose connections, the circular interface gradually disappeared as a mobile phone interface.

2. Long strip flat wide Interface

The old long, flat and wide interface is mainly used in Samsung’s Anycall series mobile phones. It is an interface type exclusively customized by Samsung for its mobile phones. At present, it won’t be easy for us to find one.

3. 30-pin Dock Interface

This 30-pin Dock interface was applied from the earliest iPhone to iPhone4s. This interface is even longer, flatter, and wider than the second one we just mentioned, which makes it look bulky. What’s worse, it sucks in transmission speed, compatibility, and openness. No wonder Apple quitted using it.

4. Mini USB Interface

This interface, also known as mini USB, is T-shaped, small in size, and has excellent anti-misplug performance. Although mini USB interfaces are no longer used in mobile phones, they are still applied to such devices as mobile hard disks, digital cameras, mobile POS machines, and PSP game consoles because these interfaces are small.

5. Micro USB Interface

The Micro USB interface is an upgraded version of Mini USB, smaller than Mini USB, boasting its faster-transferring speed and longer life span (around 10,000 times).

So far, a Micro USB interface is still applied to some smartphones priced at from 100 yuan to 1,000 yuan, lamps or charging banks.

6. Type-C interface

This kind of interface made its appearance on the Nokia N1 at first and was applied to the Apple MacBook in 2015. Today, Type-C is widely used in Android smartphones such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and OPPO.

Why does the Type-C interface become more and more popular?

Below are the reasons.

Type-C interface is thinner, catering to the mobile devices’ requirement of thin and light design. Similar to Apple’s lightning interface, the Type-C interface doesn’t differ in direction when it comes to charging.
5A charging is available, which means that the process of electricity charging can be done with a maximum current of 5A. In addition, charging power can reach 100W at best. In short, supercharging is achievable via a Type-C interface.
It can be used for connecting external USB devices, large-screen monitors, projectors, etc.
…

7. Lightning Interface

Starting with the iPhone 5, Apple has adopted the new Lightning interface. The lightning interface is even smaller and more functional. Besides, there is no difference between the front and back sides of the interface. So we don’t have to distinguish when we plug the interface into the port. This interface supports a capacity of up to 2.4A current carrying and the transmission speed is the same as the USB 2.0 standard. Although the standard is a little lower, it excels in its actual performance and brings great experience to the users. Currently, Lightning interface is accepted as Apple’s standard.

Although Micro USB, Type-C, and Lightning interfaces are popular on the market today, there are also some devices using other types of interfaces, and that’s the problem.

With so many kinds of interfaces existing simultaneously, various charging cables are needed for different interfaces.For example, when you have an iPhone, an android computer, and a lamp whose interfaces are Lightning, Type-C, and Micro-USB respectively. In general, you will have three charging cables corresponding to those interfaces. Yes, keeping three cables is probably acceptable, but what if there are more cables?

It is believed that in addition to the digital service mentioned above, we will also have various electronic devices such as Bluetooth headsets, smart bracelets, tablet computers, etc., and they will also have their charging cables although some of them may share the same interface. It tends to turn out that a bunch of wires gets tangled up, which makes us annoyed sometimes.

Fortunately, people have also come up with other ways to solve this problem such as the 3-in-1 charging cable and the ORICO’s charging bus.

There is no doubt that both of them bring us convenience, allowing us to reduce the number of charging cables we need. However, there are some demerits, still.

A. 3-in-1 Charging Cable: Three kinds of interfaces are available.

Demerits: Theoretically, it is difficult to fully utilize the maximum power of the charger when using a 3-in-1 charging cable, because the current of one interface is decentralized into three parts, which makes charging inefficient. What’s worse, it can cause damage to the battery in that the voltage is unstable. As usual, a charging head above 2.0A is required to match this kind of charging cable for protection as well as for effectiveness.

B. ORICO’s Charging Bus: Equipped with 10 short charging data cables, including 5 Type-C interfaces, 3 Lightning interfaces, and 2 Micro USB interfaces.

Demerits: “A charging bus”, similarly, is practical but far from portable. Imagine that you are planning to go out, isn’t it laborious to bring such a “bus”? Not to mention that it occupies more than a little space.

Is there any way to get through these troubles?

Yes. 3-in-1 magnetic charging cables.

The 3-in-1 magnetic charging cable is divided into two parts. One is the female part(A), and the other is the charging cable including the male part(B)（as marked in the picture）. They can connect with A via magnetic force.

So what are the advantages of this design?

Let’s have a look together.

Lightweight and easy to carry. Three interfaces are removable. When we don’t need to charge several devices at the same time, the problem of multiple cables can be solved.
Easy to use. As long as A and B are close to each other, they can be connected almost automatically. Therefore, it is quite convenient when one of your hands is not available. For instance, while brushing your teeth, using a magnetic charging cable allows you to charge your phone more easily than inserting the interface precisely.
When we charge mobile phones or other devices, it is inevitable that the charging cable will be unintentionally pulled. This unintentional pulling will not only fold the charging cable but also do harm to the charging interface. The magnetic design can greatly reduce the chance of damage because two magnetically attracted parts will separate from each other when it comes to an external force.
Equipped with LED lights for night indication.
Waterproof and dustproof.

However, magnetic charging technology is new and is still developing. That’s why 3 in 1 magnetic charging cable is now questioned because of problems accompanying it, say, low speed of charging, unstable current, and potential risks.

There is a variety of magnetic charging cables on the market today, such as the straight and the 90 degrees one.

The round or the square (the magnetic head of the wire)

In order to prevent the loss of the interfaces, the storage box came into being.

New technology is used for improving charging problems.

There is still a long way to go but it’s believed that the future of magnetic charging is bright because of its great advantages as mentioned above.