From 5W to 240W, we find the charging speed of electronic devices is faster and faster.
But it's not easy for us to get the proper cable.
Even though the appearance looks similar, the performance is completely different.
For example, the charging cable can be divided into 5A (100W) and 3A (60W).
So, today, we gonna talk about what's the difference between them.
Firstly, here are USB-C to USB-C, USB-A to USB-C, and USB-C to Lightning cables.
We will talk about the USB-C to Lightning cable later.
According to the USB specification,
there are three participants in charging, including the source, sink, and cable.
The devices need to exchange information through the cable and confirm the source and sink.
We've taken apart lots of cables,
and we found some of the cables will be equipped with an E-Marker chip,
which can facilitate the "handshaking."
But for those cables without the E-Marker chip, the current will be limited to 3A.
We can also see that only the cables that have a 5A E-Marker chip can support 100W charging.
Except for the Thunderbolt cable, the cables' supported charging power
and data transmission are not related.
So, a 5A cable is necessary to get 100W charging power.
Let's take a closer look at the 3A cable, the most common cable in the market.
There's no noticeable mark on it.
And the price is lower than the 5A cable.
So, it's suitable for some ordinary mobile phones, tablets, and Nintendo Switch.
60W is pretty enough for those devices.
But higher power is needed if you're using the PD charger to charge the laptops.
Compared with the 3A cable, the 5A cable has higher standards in all aspects.
Its maximum power can be up to 100W based on the PD 3.0.
"5A" is generally marked on the packaging and the connector for easy identification.
It must be equipped with a 5A E-Marker chip to facilitate the "handshaking."
And then, the current can break through the limit of 3A.
And the USB-C connector of the 5A cable will have thicker plated gold,
wider pins, and thicker wires inside.
And the cotton thread and powder will be added to improve the flexibility.
The 100W fast charging is usually used for some flagship devices.
So, the price will be higher than the 3A cable.
We have collected some frequently asked questions to answer.
Let's go.
In most cases, the answer is YES.
But the current will be limited to 3A.
For example, the 20V 5A will become 20V 3A.
There are also some laptops with higher requirements.
They may even refuse to charge under 20V 3.25A.
And 5A cable is necessary in this case.
It's really up to your budget and devices.
If the charging power of your phone or other devices cannot exceed 60W,
then a 3A cable is a cheaper choice.
Yes, 5A cables are usually only 0.3-1 meters in the market.
Because the longer cable will have larger resistance,
resulting in a larger pressure drop.
Yes, the 5A current can be supported by Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, and USB4 cables.
Since the USB-C to Lightning cable is a proprietary cable,
the internal IC is not used for 5A current.
It can only support up to 3A current.
At present, the highest charging power of this cable is 33W (15V2.2A) on iPad Pro.
And the iPhone 13 Pro Max only supports up to 27W (9V3A).
No, they're two different things.
So, we may see 3A 10Gbps cables and 5A 480Mbps cables.
Well, that's all for today's video.
We shared the specific differences between the 3A cable and the 5A cable
in terms of cable, connector, price and answered a few questions.
5A cable can definitely get a better fast charging experience.
But if 60W is enough for your devices, 3A would be an affordable choice.
If you like this video, please drop a like, leave your comments, and subscribe to us.
I'll catch you guys in the next video. Bye.