en you go to buy a charger, it comes with a reasonable expectation it won’t fry your phone.
Unfortunately, with newer B-C chargers the reality hasn’t been so clear cut. Many third-party cables have been shoddy, spurring engineer son ung into a one-man campaign to call out offenders. Oneus had to issue replacements after it sent out a damaging B-C cable adapter.
The B Implementers Forum (B-IF), the group behind certification, announced a new logo compliance program that should go a long way towards preventing such tragedies.
B-IF The certification program is a much-needed effort to give customers more information about what they’re buying.
Certified chargers will “resemble a traditional power brick or wall wart” interoperate with compatible with B-C devices, according to the group. Manufacturers will be able to put a logo on the charger that also indicates the wattage it can supply so there’s no more guesswork.
It may help sort out what can be a confusing area. For example, ’s performed a charging test with several laptops found inconsistent results in terms of whether or not the chargers worked or would only transmit data.
But B-C is undoubtedly the future. The Galaxy Note 7 uses this for charging, one of the last flagships to make the switch over from microB. So when you go to look for a third-party B-C charger, you’ll want to keep an eye out for the logo note the charging capacity. It could avoid a very costly replacement.
The impact on you: The new labeling system will give you a verified way to know the wattage of a charger to trust that it meets proper specifications. The B-IF doesn’t have any type of enforcement power, but smart manufacturers will want to jump aboard this effort at giving buyers the confidence they should have. Unfortunately, poor B-C cables that don’t perform up to spec will probably be a reality for awhile longer.
