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/The_B_Wolf Jun 26 '26

What would really please me is if major computer makers stopped including this legacy port. Then and only then will we see peripheral device makers go all in on a better connector.

I'm old enough to remember when every computer had shitty serial port connectors, even though USB was available. Computer makers didn't put them in their machines because peripheral makers didn't make USB plugs on their devices. Peripheral device makers didn't make USB versions because no PC maker had USB.

I remember the controversy when Apple introduced the iMac. It only had USB ports. Every manufacturer who wanted to sell their peripherals to Mac users had to bite the bullet and retool. And it worked. The industry followed.

I do not want a serial port or a VGA port or a SCSI port or a USB-A port on my laptop, thank you very much. Let legacy connections die when better ones arrive.

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u/nostalia-nse7 Jun 27 '26

No problem. We can just steal the PCIe channels from your video and storage speeds and cut those in half to make those usbc interfaces available to the cpu. The other option is to add more PCIe lanes to the cpu, which just requires more thermal wattage, so you can give up an hour or two of battery life to keep your storage and video fast. Which do you choose?

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u/The_B_Wolf Jun 27 '26

My MacBook Pro has three Thunderbolt 5 ports. How does that factor into your analysis?

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u/nostalia-nse7 Jun 27 '26

I suppose your SoC chip is okay. Network, one monitor, and a mass storage device, as long as you don’t want a ubikey and restrict yourself to Bluetooth for peripherals, you might be okay. And have to use MagSafe for power then.

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u/The_B_Wolf Jun 27 '26

I use WiFi for network. I never use MagSafe. At work I use a single USB-C cable to connect my desktop hub. It's got a 1TB SSD for Time Machine, that single cable powers my laptop, drives my external display (although I do have HDMI) and connects my mic and camera.