[Andrex]

Type-A has completely disappeared from my life and that of my family's.

Micro-USB is still clinging on but those will fade out within the next 2-3 years.

Additionally, four years is a laughably short period of time to measure Type-C's adoption, but even given that, I would love to see actual usage data for, say, American adults.

[OkGoDoIt]

Maybe we just have to accept that people have different usage profiles. Personally I don’t have a single USB peripheral that is USB-C beyond simply charging. But I have many many devices that are USB-A, micro USB, HDMI, etc. A laptop that has USB-C, USB-A, and HDMI is significantly more useful to me than one which only has USB-C. I own all the adapters but I don’t always remember to bring everything with me, so even given my multi hundred dollar investment in adapters I often have trouble connecting with things. And as far as replacing all my peripherals with USB-C peripherals, those tend to be more expensive, and also my desktop computer does not support USB-C so I would basically need a separate set of everything. USB-C is undoubtably a better port in many technical ways, but for practical purposes it really doesn’t hold up against the ports it replaced in real life.

[Nition]

> Type-A has completely disappeared from my life and that of my family's.

I'm honestly surprised by this. I have eight different type A devices plugged into my PC right now[1] and I don't own a single type C device (and it's not that I've intentionally avoided it).

As for the rest of my family, I don't think any of them have computers that'd even have a Type C port. Mine has just one, and it's brand new.

[1] Keyboard, mouse, external audio interface, printer, scanner, iLok dongle, external HDD, flash drive.

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Edit: Valid point made in the replies that 50% of these could have their cables replaced to do USB-C at one end.

Cable could be replaced: External audio interface, printer, scanner, External HDD.

Cable not replaceable: Keyboard, mouse, iLok dongle, flash drive.

[inopinatus]

Those mostly aren't "type-A devices". The connector is not the protocol. Except for those physically integrated into a type-A connector, those are mostly USB-2/3 devices that generally ship by default with a cable that includes a type-A connector at one end and a type-B or mini/micro-B at the other.

I too have an external audio interface, a printer, scanner, and external HDD, and they are all connected via USB cables that have a type-C connector at one end and the relevant B subtype at the other. These are now cheap and ubiquitous. My keyboard is lightning to USB-C, and my mouse is bluetooth. As for flash drives, I buy the double-ended ones these days.

The adapters I still use are for an older U2F dongle that is physically integrated into a type-A connector, which is due for retirement later this year, and a Thunderbolt display.

So the writing isn't just on the wall for USB Type-A connectors in my household, they're basically gone.

As for what happens to all the cables with type-A connectors that shipped by default, those are in my travel kit for device charging off wall-warts or vehicles that often still have type-A sockets.

[com2kid]

USB-A right now:

1. My keyboard

2. My mouse

3. My webcam

4. My headset

5. My BT Dongle (which my BT headset won't actually pair with, thus #4)

6. Wi-Fi adapter

7. Xbox 360 controller

Now that is my desktop, my laptop is USB-C, with a dock plugged into the port. Said dock only has 2 USB devices plugged in, wireless adapter for my Mouse/Keyboard, and my headset.

None of this counts the many USB-A charging cables. I have USB-A to Lightning, USB-A to Micro, and USB-A to USB-C, all currently in use. I also have a single USB-C to USB-C adapter.

[vortico]

I see it as a wealth level thing. People will still be buying $30 Canon printers at Walmart with USB-B ports and USB-A flash drives in 20 years. Not everyone buys their entire family the newest, most expensive hardware every 2 years. It'll be ages before USB-C and USB 3 hardware becomes as cheap as the massively produced USB-A/B and USB 2 hardware.

[_-___________-_]

A printer with a USB-B port can be plugged into a USB-C port. Only the cable needs to change, not the printer. After buying my Macbook with 4 USB-C ports I simply replaced the cables for the various devices, and I almost never need to use any adapter/dongle at all.

[Andrex]

I actually do have a digital piano with Type-B, and use a B-to-C cable as well, no adapter needed.

[r00fus]

Luckily dongles/adapters are cheap.

[CivBase]

Do you and your family exclusively use laptops and phones manufactured after 2017 without any external peripherals? Because it's still hard to find USB-C on anything else. Even some of Apple's own devices still cling to lightning.

Sure, some motherboards, peripherals, and displays have type-C ports, but they're still very much the exception.

[jwr]

> Type-A has completely disappeared from my life and that of my family's

This might be true for end users, but in my electronics work, I don't see even a single USB-C device around me, and I'm looking at about ~50 devices right now around my desk (dev boards/kits, logic analyzers, interfaces, accessories, microscopes, oscilloscopes, and other equipment).

USB-C only is perhaps fine on consumer laptops, but these are supposedly the more capable "Pro" machines, for, well, pros.