According to incomplete statistics, the vast majority of new products launched by mainstream electronic atomization brands in China in the second half of this year have adopted type-c charging interfaces.

In many reviews of new Electronic cigarette products, when it comes to charging interfaces, type-c is often described in terms of faster charging, higher charging efficiency, and even supporting fast charging. Some media even use the micro usb interface as a disadvantage of Electronic cigarette products.

Admittedly, in general, type-c is undoubtedly better than micro usb. However, according to the consumer reporter, the limited edition Lamborghini Electronic cigarette, which takes the luxury route from product positioning, design, quality and price, still uses the micro usb interface.

The Lamborghini Electronic cigarette with several thousand yuan is still using the "outdated" micro usb interface. Don't you think it's not about martial arts?

To this end, the consumer journalist specifically consulted relevant materials and raised a question here:

Is it really necessary to replace the type-C interface on the small cigarette without a brain?

Before answering this question, it is necessary to clarify the relationship between micro USB and type-c. Type-C and micro USB are actually products under different classification standards. Type-C is named according to interface appearance classification, while USB is named according to USB technical specifications.

The type of type-c is actually a description standard for the appearance of USB interfaces, such as mouse, USB drive, and other interfaces, which are generally type-a, which is also the most common interface standard.

In the past, the common micro USB interface for mobile phones, now commonly known as the ordinary Android interface, was a portable mobile version of the USB 2.0 technical specification standard.

As an interface that can adapt to the latest USB 3.1 specification, type-c is undoubtedly more advanced than the micro USB produced in the USB 2.0 era.

At the beginning of this year, the EU legislative body passed a resolution with 582 votes to 40, aimed at unifying charging solutions for smartphones. This resolution is highly targeted, with the aim of forcing Apple to switch to the same type-c interface as the Android camp.

Although Apple does not endorse this decision, it also has to accept the fact that type-C is at the forefront of the times and the future of the USB interface.

Does this mean that the type-c interface of Zhengda's unified mobile phone industry should also become a standard feature for replacing small cigarettes.

I think the answer is no, and the current development of replacing small cigarettes is far from reaching the stage where type-c interfaces are needed.

What is the value of type-c on a replacement cigarette?

Good product design is user centered, fully taking into account the needs and feelings of users. So when we talk about whether it's meaningful to switch to the type-C interface, we're more talking about what the type-C interface can bring to consumers?

The type-c interface has strong power supply capability, faster data transmission speed than the micro USB interface, and can also transmit analog signals. The forward and reverse insertion and bidirectional charging supported by the type-c interface also make it more convenient to use than the Micro USB interface.

But most of these conclusions are drawn in the field of smartphones. And the advantages reflected by the type-c interface are not entirely applicable to the replacement of small cigarettes.

Most of the micro USB interfaces on the market now use a universal protocol, which can generally only withstand up to 18W of input power. However, the prerequisite is that the charger and device support the Qualcomm QC fast charging protocol.

However, the USb3.1 standard adopted by the type-c interface can provide power output up to 100W, which is actually a terrible figure. If the battery capacity of a Electronic cigarette is 350mAh, the input power of 100W can fill a small cigarette with no power in one minute.

However, whether it is micro USB interface Electronic cigarette or type-c interface Electronic cigarette, most products have a full charge time of about 40 minutes, because the above assumptions cannot be realized at all.

There is a limit to the charging current that lithium batteries can accept. Here, we need to introduce the concept of battery charging and discharging rate C.

The so-called C rate is a measure of the speed of discharge, just like releasing water from a bathtub. The higher the C number, the larger the drainage outlet, and the faster the drainage speed.

Taking commonly used 3C batteries as an example, for a 400mAh 3C battery, the maximum allowable charging current is 400mA * 3=1.2A, corresponding to the commonly used 5V charging head, with a theoretical maximum charging power of 6W.

The input power of 6W and the micro usb interface can completely reach the limit, so the power limit of the micro usb interface in the field of smart phones is no longer a limit in the replacement of small cigarettes. Since most small cigarettes are not equipped with a fast charging module, the charging speed of Electronic cigarette does not increase with the change of the interface.

Now many Electronic cigarette brands are promoted by type-c fast charging. However, there is no clear standard for dividing the speed of charging. After carefully reading the product manuals of several brands, we found that most brands did not even include the charging specifications and parameters of the batteries in the manuals. This indicates that both industry standards and brands themselves have failed to unify charging speed standards, but some brands are using fast charging to flaunt themselves under vague standards.

When fast charging becomes a gimmick, what else can type-c have when it comes to swapping small cigarettes.

Although the current Electronic cigarette is often mistakenly called a USB flash disk, it has almost no data transmission function, so it cannot take advantage of the high-speed data transmission of the type-c interface. The advantages of USB 3.1, such as transmitting analog signals and bidirectional transmission, cannot be reflected in the replacement of small cigarettes.

So in the end, the feature of being able to quickly insert without distinguishing between positive and negative in dark environments, as well as the adaptability advantages brought by the large-scale switch of Type-C interface to Android phones, may be one of the few advantages of Type-C interface in changing ammunition and cigarettes.

So should micro USB be eliminated?

Putting aside bias and re-examining the micro USB interface and type-c interface, we found that there is no significant difference in core functionality between the micro USB interface and type-c interface for the replacement of small cigarettes.

On the contrary, the size of the type-c interface is a significant limitation.

The size of the USB type-c interface is 8.3mm x 2.5mm; The size of the micro USB interface is 7.4mmx2.35mm; The current size of the type-c interface is one circle larger than that of the micro USB, and for small volume products such as ammunition replacement cigarettes, it takes up too much space, which correspondingly has a greater impact on the internal design.

So now, looking back at the question raised at the beginning of the article: Is it really necessary to replace the small cigarette with a type-C interface?

Our answer is: at least for now, type-c is not the only option for changing the charging interface of small cigarettes.

And whether switching to type-c can really improve charging speed should not be judged by the promotional words on the new product release poster, but by a standard and specification that should already exist.

In the past, there was also an era of wild growth in fast charging marketing in the mobile phone industry. Major mobile phone brands have different standards to define fast charging, leaving consumers in a fog. Some brands even claim that their phones support fast charging with a 5V 2A 10W charging power, using Qualcomm's QC1.0 standard.

But with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology leading the release of fast charging standards, fast charging is defined as: charging for 30 minutes, current ≥ 3A, or total charging capacity ≥ 60%. The chaos in the industry is gradually being controlled and moving towards standardization.

In fact, the fast charging standard for Electronic cigarette is only a small part of the many national standards expected by the Electronic cigarette industry, but it is also a small part of countless kinds of such standards, which effectively affects the development of the industry and the experience of consumers.

This is why the industry has been calling for the introduction of Electronic cigarette specifications.