OnePlus offers refunds for USB Type-C cables following Google engineer’s criticism

Android smartphone maker OnePlus said today that between now and December 31 it will give refunds to people who bought the company’s USB Type-C cable through its website. The offer comes after a Google engineer pointed out that the cable did not meet specifications.

In a post on the company’s online forum today, OnePlus cofounder Carl Pei insisted that the cable works fine with the OnePlus 2 smartphone, which comes with the cable at purchase. So the company will not offer refunds for those cables. But issues can arise if people use the company’s USB Type-C cable with devices from other companies — like the recently released LG Nexus 5X and Huawei Nexus 6P:

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1844878,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,mobile,","session":"C"}']

Our cable and adapter use a 10kΩ resistor, but according to version 1.1 of the Type-C port standard, these products should be using a 56kΩ resistor. The issue is that the cable and adapter are designed for a maximum of 2 amps of power, but the resistor will allow fast-charging devices to try to draw more power than a power source may allow. This could result in damage to the power source (third-party charger, USB port, etc.) if the device and power source do not have an internal mechanism to self-regulate the amount of power flowing to or from them.

Hence the refund program. But OnePlus is not stopping there.

“In the meantime, our team has already begun developing improved Type-C cables and adapters with 56kΩ resistors,” Pei wrote. We’ll keep you posted when they’re ready for release.”

See Pei’s forum post for instructions on how to get the refund.