Why does the USB-A connector only work in one direction?

The original USB connector (USB-A) was only unidirectional due to economic reasons.

According to PCGamer, Ajay Bhatt, the leader of the Intel team that created the USB protocol, said that the original USB connector (USB-A) was only unidirectional and not reversible, mainly due to economic reasons. It would take twice as many cables and circuits to design a reversible USB connector, thus doubling the cost.

Why does the USB-A connector only work in one direction?
Ajay Bhatt is considered the father of the popular USB connection technology today.

However, this cost-saving design inadvertently confuses users when making connections.

It wasn't until the USB-C connector came along that this changed and gained massive support from tech companies.

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an invention that revolutionized the way people connect devices, despite its lack of reversibility. Since its introduction with version 1.0 and its 12 Mbps data transfer rate, USB has seen major improvements in speed and performance. Today, we are in the era of USB4, which is based on the USB-C connector and offers faster transfer speeds.

Despite USB's ubiquity, Bhatt said, convincing major PC makers to adopt the specification was no easy task. It took his team a while to convince PC makers that it was an indispensable technology.

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