Intentionally inflammatory title there, but there are some valid reasons to be annoyed at USB Type C.
Firstly, I have discovered (the hard way) that although there are many cables on sale, the majority of Type C cables do not support even USB 3.0 speeds (so 5Gb/s) let alone USB 3.1gen2 (so 10Gb/s) speeds. They are actually USB 2.0 (so 480Mb/s) cables.
I can understand that some devices with Type C connectors may only need USB 2.0 speeds, but for the cables to not all be USB 3.x seems crazy to me. Even Apple is doing this - the charging cables for MacBooks (12" and Pros) with Type C ports, only support USB 2.0 speeds. If I had to guess, I'd say it's because they wanted the cables to be thin and easily bendable, which full USB 3.1 cables tend not to be.
Secondly, unlike Type A, which marks USB 3.x cables by having blue plastic inside the connectors, there is no way to tell what speed a Type C cable is by looking at it.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, USB Type C is a vastly more powerful beast than previous versions - a modern Type C port can be capable of:
- 40Gb/s Thunderbolt 3
- DisplayPort
- 10Gb/s USB 3.1gen2
- 100W of (actively negotiated) power delivery in either direction
The DisplayPort "alternate mode" can deliver 4K at 60Hz with USB3.1 at the same time, or 5K with USB2.0 at the same time, or 8K (compressed). When used as Thunderbolt, Type C can carry 5K video as well as the PCI data.
So while one tiny connector can do a whole bunch of really impressive things, the cables are now expected to do vastly more than even USB3.0 Type A cables, let alone USB 2.0, and it seems like that advanced capability isn't currently aligned with the history of USB as being an ultra-cheap, mass market affair.
Various awesome folk have put together a spreadsheet of the chargers/cables they've tested, and it seems like a serious chunk of the Type C cables currently on the market, are junk. This is bad for everyone, especially users, who can buy what looks like the right cable, only to discover that their devices either don't work at all, or work to slowly, or won't charge properly.
This post exists because I needed a USB3.0, three metre, Type A to Type C cable, and I bought one on Amazon, only to discover that it only supported USB2.0. After far too much searching, I eventually found an Anker cable which meets my requirements: