Which USB-C cable do I need?

USB-C cables look almost the same from the outside but do very different things. Some charge slowly and move data at speeds from twenty years ago. Others charge a large laptop at 240 watts and drive two monitors. The finder above asks what you want to connect and filters out every cable that cannot do it. Manufacturers and retailers cannot buy a place in it.

Charging power: 60, 100 or 240 watts

A USB-C cable without a special chip handles up to 60 watts. More needs an e-marker, a small chip in the plug that tells the charger what the cable can take. With an e-marker, 100 watts or, under the newer standard, 240 watts are possible.

The number on your charger is the minimum for the cable. A stronger cable does no harm.

Data rate: from 480 Mbit/s to 80 Gbit/s

Many charging cables only carry data at USB 2.0 speed, 480 Mbit/s. An external hard drive needs at least 5 Gbit/s, a fast SSD 10 Gbit/s or more. USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 reach 40 Gbit/s, Thunderbolt 5 and USB4 v2 even 80 Gbit/s.

Monitor and dock

Video only works over a cable that supports at least USB 3.2 (10 Gbit/s) and DisplayPort Alt Mode. For a dock with two monitors, a Thunderbolt or USB4 cable is the safe choice.

Length

The faster a cable, the shorter it usually is. Passive 40 Gbit/s cables generally go up to about 1 metre. Longer fast cables need active electronics and cost a lot more. For charging, 2 or 3 metres are fine.

Lightning

iPhones up to the iPhone 14 have a Lightning port, from the iPhone 15 on it is USB-C. Older iPhones need a USB-C to Lightning cable. Apple checks accessories in its MFi program, and the finder shows that certification.

All cables at a glance

Data: our own research from manufacturer and retailer information. Undocumented values are marked as such.