A kind of magic: two-sided conventional USB

By Dmitry Kann A minute read
This post  in Russian

Recently I’ve come across a couple of USB cables of Chinese origin (what else).

Cables that are a real innovation in my view. Carrying just regular USB Type A or Micro USB connectors, they can be plugged in both ways!

Micro USB

Here’s the Micro USB version. Notice the symmetrical shape of the connector:

A two-way Micro USB connector.
A two-way Micro USB connector.

So it’s easily plugged in in both directions, here’s the proof:

Symmetrical Micro USB plugged in.
Symmetrical Micro USB plugged in.

And it isn’t charging-only, also the data lines are properly wired so that the data transfer is possible. You can buy one, for example, on AliExpress.

USB Type A

This one has a Type C connector at one end, which is on itself symmetrical, but the cunning Chinese managed to make the conventional USB A plug at the opposite end also two-sided. It’s really unbelievable:

Symmetrical USB Type A plug.
Symmetrical USB Type A plug.

And here it is in action:

Symmetrical USB A plugged in.
Symmetrical USB A plugged in.

I got this cable also on AliExpress.

So one might wonder why aren’t we using these just everywhere? That’s a perfect solution to unravel the infamous USB superposition problem:

The USB superposition problem.
The USB superposition problem.

Why indeed. ■

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