Different Types of Mobile Phone Chargers

A mobile phone is all over in the current society and it is not possible to imagine a life without one. With newer models coming into the market every now and then, we all ponder of upgrading our current versions. Apart from analysing the technical specs and its features, it’s necessary to think about the phone charger types as well. What if you end up with a phone which is not compatible with other chargers?

In order to make a decision, you must first understand the various types of chargers available in the market! This way, you won’t end up hoarding on multiple charger wires at home or office!

Here are the top 7 Different Types of Cell Phone Charging Cables and Pins.

Let us have a look into the differences between the many types of cell phone charger cords available in the market:

1. USB-Type A Charger:

USB-Type A chargers have male connectors that connect to the female Type-A ports present on the device of a host such as computers or laptops. Typically, these cable cords have a rectangular shape with the bottom part consisting of the pin connectors. On the recipient side, any device such as mobile phone, power bank, ipod etc. can be connected using various charger ends like Type B or C. Type A chargers are quite stiff and can only accommodate the specific ports which are now becoming obsolete in modern host devices.

2. USB- Type B Charger:

USB Type B connectors fit into the female Type B ports present on large peripheral devices such as printers, scanners and external storage devices. They have a characteristic square shape with descending corners on the top. The other end of Type B connectors come with either Type A or C connectors to connect to an external device such as computers. The idea behind the development of Type B connectors is to reduce the risk of connecting two host computers to each other instead of a peripheral device. Type B ports are vanishing at a slow pace from the commercial market and giving way to newer types of USB Chargers.

3. USB- Type C Charger:

USB- Type C Chargers are comparatively new entries to the world of charger ports. Within just a few years, they are the best alternatives to most standard charger ports like A or B. The advantage of these connectors is the reversible choice. You can plug the connector into the port in any direction to get a perfect fit. Also, USB-C are quite dynamic in terms of connectivity, faster data transfer and speed charging of other devices which are connected at the end of the ports. Many brands such as Samsung, Nexus etc. have made Type-C as their default phone charger types.

4. Mini-USB Charger:

Mini-USB Chargers have officially vanished from the electronics scene now! But whilst the times of digital cameras, these chargers were quite the game changers in the way devices were charged. As the name suggests, Mini-USB chargers are much smaller and thicker as compared to other kinds of phone chargers. On one end of this charger cable is a standard flat end USB and on the other end you will find a smaller version of either Type-A, B or C Chargers. The main disadvantage is that these chargers are not on-the-go compliant, meaning they cannot support the switching between the roles of host and device.

5. Micro-USB Charger:

Micro-USB Chargers are known to be one of the most widely sold types of chargers in the world. Infact, brands like Samsung and LG have pretty much made these as their standard mobile phone chargers universally. There are many ways in which Micro-USB chargers are condescending to Mini-USBs. These chargers are smaller in size to Mini USBs and are OTG (On-the-Go) Compliant. Also, they support a high data transfer of around 480 MBPS! There are two subtypes of these USB chargers – Type A and Type B, although the latter is the most common.

6. USB 3.0 Charger:

USB 3.0 is the recent innovation in the mobile industry, which is also known as Superspeed USB. Compared to USB 2.0, USB 3.0 offers a high data transfer of upto 625 MB/s and a fast-charging of upto 900 mA, making it the fastest in the market yet so far. You can differentiate a 3.0 from a 2.0 using the blue color on the receptors. Today, we have USB 3.1, called Superspeed+ and USB 3.2 Chargers which mixes superspeed and superspeed+ to give extremely high data transfer rates of 2500 Mbits/S. These chargers also have subtypes like USB 3.0 Type A, B or C, of which the 18W Fast Charger USB- TypeC is quite famous.

7. Lightning Charger:

The Lightning phone charger chord is wholly owned and designed by the Apple Inc. Lightning Connectors have replaced the original 30 pin dock connectors which came with Iphone 4 or Iphone 3. In place of 30, Lightning chords come with just 8 pins and can be inserted into the female port in any direction. All the recent models of Apple, including iPhone 12 and Iphone 12 Max, come with Lightning chargers. In 2018, Apple announced that it would replace all its lightning connectors with the USB-Type C. Well, we don’t see that happening anytime soon though!