microUSB 2.0 vs USB Type-C 2.0

[Novice App User]

A friend of mine has an older phone with microUSB 2.0 . She is planning on buying a new phone with USB Type-C 2.0. What is the difference? Will the power cable and USB cord from her old phone work in her new phone? Thanks.

 

[codezer0]

A friend of mine has an older phone with microUSB 2.0 . She is planning on buying a new phone with USB Type-C 2.0. What is the difference? Will the power cable and USB cord from her old phone work in her new phone? Thanks.

In that case, the transfer speeds would be the same. The physical connector would change. It may be possible to convert their existing cables to type C with some converters/adapters. but if they are discrete cables, I can readily say that it would likely be cheaper to simply replace them with fresh cables.

The advantages with a Type C connector are primarily the sturdier connector design, and the fact that it's reversible. Unfortunately, USB IF (the people that design and determine the standard/specification for USB) made a real hot mess for enforcing Type C for stuff; not as big a deal with charging a phone, but definitely a bigger deal when dealing with those notebooks that were designed to charge from a Type C connector.

 

[svim]

The plug connectors for a USB Type-C cable and a microUSB cable will be different shapes, and that will correspond with the differently shaped USB port in a phone. USB 3 is backwards compatible with earlier USB 1.x and 2.x as far as data and power transfer protocols, but plugs are different so that's an over-riding issue. She will need to use whichever cable matches up with whichever device as one is more rectangular with two angled sides (microUSB) while the other is more of a flattened oval (Type-C)
microUSB
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hardware#Micro_connectors
Type-C
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C
I'd bypass any kind of microUSB >< Type-C adapter as Type-C has devolved into a massive mess of different, proprietary protocols so there is no such thing as a truly 'Universal Serial Bus' cable any more.
https://people.kernel.org/bleung/how-many-kinds-of-usb-c-to-usb-c-cables-are-there
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...-to-make-the-current-usb-branding-even-worse/
https://www.androidauthority.com/state-of-usb-c-870996/
Just tell your friend she should use the cable that gets shipped with her phone and that should work out fine. If she does opt to buy extra USB Type-C cables, it's important to pay attention when shopping around, USB cables are most definitely not all the same. Just avoid the cheap, knock-offs, they almost always made using surplus, left-over components with minimal quality control. A good USB cable however, isn't that much more expensive, and will have better connectors, use thicker gauge wires, and have more insulation and shielding. That results in more consistent, faster file transfers, minimizing those otherwise mysterious copying errors and other such things that people always complain about. But most importantly, now that different corporations get to use their own proprietary USB standards (excluding others), we all need to be more vigilant when buying a third-party USB cable.
https://www.techspot.com/news/61874-usb-type-c-get-less-confusing-through-more.html
Tell her to buy her cables from sources that allow easy returns and/or exchanges, just in case.

 

[Novice App User]

Thanks for all the helpful info!