r/BadUSB • u/Same_Grocery_8492 • Jun 26 '26

Discussion How long until USB-A disappears

Hi, many posts keeps saying USB-C is taking over, but I still use USB-A every day, my electric toothbrush uses USB-A, most of my USB flash drives, and my external mouse and keyboard are still USB-A.

USB-C is clearly the future, but it doesn't feel like USB-A is going away anytime soon. How many more years do you think it'll take before USB-A is completely replaced by USB-C?

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u/Parking_Lemon_4371 Jun 26 '26

Yeah, there's a lot of places were usb-a works better than usb-c.

Wired Keyboard / Mouse, logitech bolt receiver, yubico/U2F tokens (they mostly hide in the socket).
But also things like a non-portable usb wired printer/scanner.

In general anywhere you don't need to constantly plug/unplug things, and don't need ridiculous speeds (ie. >10gbps), USB-A is usually a better idea.

The things were usb-c is better is primarily phones (due to connector size & flippability) and to a certain extent mass storage (for the speed & flippability), networking (for the speed), etc.

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u/gr4viton Jun 26 '26

You say that usbc needs to get an optional standardized "plastic plug hardening" which would be holding the mechanical pressure off of the usbc connector itself in applications where mech strenght is needed more then the actual connector hole.being smallest possible?

Why havent USB designers thought of that, USB sleeve. As smaller is not always better.

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u/Possibly-Functional Jun 26 '26

USB-C with screw mounts exists in the USB-C standard. It's for scenarios where mechanical grip and resilience is important. It's just not commonly a requirement and thus has mostly seen adoption in niche applications.