At 6-feet long, it will do its job to charge your phone or tablet, and even your laptop at up to 60 watts, and that’s about it. The Amazon Basics USB-C to USB-C USB 2.0 is the cable that epitomizes minimum effort. (Learn more in our guide on how to buy a USB-C cable on Amazon without losing your mind, and find out about how we tested these cables below our picks.) We separated our picks into two groups: USB-C cables that are suitable for charging, and those that are suitable for both charging and fast data transfer, which essentially comes down to the difference between USB-C 2.0 and 3.1. In doing so we were able to identify some clear winners to make your purchasing decision easier. So we bought 14 cables ranging from the biggest, most recognizable brand-names to the cheapest-looking cables around and put them through the wringer to test relative performance. Unfortunately trying to find a quality USB-C cable among the multitude of options available can be daunting. You will see huge performance differences in transferring data and charging devices depending on the particular cable you buy.
We can tell you from testing more than a dozen USB-C cables that they are not all the same.
It’s easy to see why people mistakenly believe that all USB-C cables are essentially the same, and that differences are mostly superficial and a way to mark up prices.