[SifJar]

> doing it their way gets rid of all of the ambiguity involved with USB C

At that point, why use USB-C for the dock connection at all? Just use a proprietary connector if you're not going to follow the standards.

Having a separate USB-C port for charging should satisfy e.g. the EU regulations requiring that, I think. (Assuming that is the reason they used USB-C in the first place)

[Eater_of_food]

Presumably, sticking with USB lowers costs. Just buy mass-produced ports rather than invest in tooling to build a bespoke port.

[pathartl]

They already produce custom designed ports in order to add some tolerance to make it easier to dock the device.

[tzs]

The choices aren’t limited to USB or bespoke. There are thousands of mass produced non-USB connectors available at any major electronics parts distributor.

[pjjpo]

> At that point, why use USB-C for the dock connection at all?

To satisfy charging expectations with the same port as display that they decided to do something proprietary with. On the flip side, why not do that when people will buy the console no matter what?

[naikrovek]

> At that point, why use USB-C for the dock connection at all? Just use a proprietary connector if you're not going to follow the standards.

They are following the standards. They don't have to communicate with devices that they don't want to communicate with. There's no requirement in the USB spec that connected Type-C compliant devices interoperate in all cases.