The advantage of USB-C, if you don't realize it, is that there are many devices that want to be clients sometimes, and hosts other times. You know, like being a

The advantage of USB-C, if you don't realize it, is that there are many devices that want to be clients sometimes, and hosts other times. You know, like being able to plug your phone into your computer, or your gamepad into your phone. Previous to USB-C, USB ports were either "host ports" or "client ports" (thus all the different shapes); and devices were required to assume that if something was plugged into a client port of theirs, it was a host; and if something was plugged into a host port of theirs, it was a client. No dynamic host/client negotiation — there wasn't even a protocol for it. Instead, there was "USB On The Go" (USB-OTG), which would signal a "USB-OTG" compatible device on its normally-a-client port, to switch that port+USB controller into host mode, based on the physical wiring of the host side of the special "client but actually a host" connector on a special USB-OTG cable. And, of course, users would never consider this problem ahead of time — why would they? — so there was no demand for host/client hybrid devices to ship with USB-OTG cables; instead, they were something you'd realize you'd need only too late, once you already had the problem; and now you're running to an electronics store at 8PM so you can plug your Android tablet into a scanner. With USB-C, all that is gone. USB-C devices are required to signal whether they're a host, client, or hybrid device, so that hybrid devices can auto-discover whether it's a host, client, or another hybrid device on the other end of the line, and do the sensible thing in each case. No need for special "override" cables. And no need for discrete host-side vs. client-side connectors. Host-ness vs. client-ness is now a logical part of the USB protocol, rather than an electrical part of the protocol. This also means that if you have, say, a laptop, you only need to bring one (good, beefy) USB-C cable with you — probably the one that came with your laptop's USB-C AC adapter; and this cable will both charge your laptop from the wall, and allow you to plug in any USB-C devices you might need to connect to. Or, in the case of a display or hub with power-delivery — both! (IMHO the point of the original Macbook's single-port USB-C design was to serve as a forcing function to make people realize that the combination of battery life + USB-C "switch-around-ability" means they can — in most casual use-cases — just alternate between charging and connectivity through a single port+cable, rather than needing both at once and thus needing two ports + two cables.)