With new USB connectors, it doesn't matter which way up they are
This way or that way up? It won't matter any more, says group developing industry standard for thinner connectors to replace one-way plugs
After almost two decades of trying and failing to plug in USB connectors the right way up first time round, computer users' difficulties may come to an end.
A new version of the USB connector, called Type-C, will be the first generation of the ubiquitous connection standard to be both symmetrical and reversible. Each end of the cable will be the same as the other - and it won't matter which way up the plugs are.
The downside of the Type-C connector, which will work with the new USB 3.1 specification, is that it is not physically compatible with current ports.
Manufacturers will have to choose whether individual sockets should be the common Standard-A type, source of all the this-way-up-no-that-way woes, or the new Type-C.
However, Alex Peleg, the vice-president of chipmaker Intel's platform engineering group, expects it to become widespread.
"This new industry standards-based thin connector delivering data, power and video is the only connector one will need across all devices," he said in a statement issued by the USB 3.0 Promoter Group, part of an industry body.