This folks, is why we must be careful with the cables that we buy, especially with USB Type-C becoming popular these days. Googler Benson Leung who has been testing out all sorts of cables for the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P and even the Chromebook Pixel 2, had his Pixel 2 destroyed thanks to a cable (which has since been removed from Amazon, thankfully). This is a big reason why Leung has been testing out USB Type-C cables over the past few months. To make sure that we are using cables that are safe to use. Not only can they fry the charger you’re using, but as we can see now it can also fry your device that you are charging. A bit unfortunate for Leung, but these things do happen.
Upon taking apart this cable, Leung realized that there is a ton of issues with this USB Type-C cable. Including the wrong resistor. The supplier was using a 10 kΩ resistor instead of a 56 kΩ resistor in the cable. There are also plenty of other problems, which made the situation pretty bad for Leung. The lesson here is to make sure that you are buying a cable that does indeed have the right spec, otherwise you could end up damaging your device that you are attempting to charge here. Our list of top 10 USB Type-C accessories have all been reviewed by Leung and approved, so there’s nothing to worry about there, fortunately. A bit unfortunate foe Leung to have lost his Chromebook Pixel 2 from this cable, considering the Pixel 2 is a $1500 Chromebook, and that cable is likely far less expensive (probably under $10).
When you’re looking to buy a new USB Type-C cable, be sure to check out the reviews on Amazon before buying it. A lot of the cheaper ones are going to be missing the proper specs to charge your Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P or Chromebook Pixel 2, and something like this could end up happening to you as well. Ideally, you’ll want to stay away from the cheaper ones – there’s a reason why they are cheaper. By no means should you fear USB Type-C cables altogether though.