This was neither standarized nor enforced, yet it worked remarkably well in the real world
Then we decided to just have no markings at all on USB C cables. On the ports at least we occasionally get little thunderbolt or power symbols
The problem is that there are too many uses for one connector. But this is wha we wanted - a reduced number of standardized connector/power options.
Has lead to some very embarrassing “works on my computer” situations on prototype boards shared with my EE colleagues (I’m a software guy who dabbles in hardware when I need to)
It gets even worse.
I now have two cheap Chinese gadgets (a checki printer and a tire inflater) that have USB-C ports for charging, but will only charge with the wire that came with the gadget. The other end of which is an old-style USB plug.
It seems that USB-C sockets are cheap enough parts to use them for everything, even if the manufacturer isn't going to put any actual USB circuitry behind them.
Edit: Three. I forgot about my wife's illuminated makeup mirror.
Very annoying though! The devices are just missing a couple resistors which is probably less than a cent on the BOM.