Remember Benson Leung, the Google employee on a mission to call out potentially unsafe USB Type-C cables and recommend the good ones? He’s still working to protect us from USB Type-C cables that are non-compliant, and now he’s calling out devices that aren’t compliant, too.
In the comments of a recent Google+ post, Leung says that we’ll “never see [him] recommend the LG G5 or the HTC 10 phones” because the Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 tech that they use isn’t compliant with the USB Type-C specification. Specifically, the USB Type-C spec forbids proprietary charging methods from changing the Vbus above 5V. Quick Charge 3.0 does that to boost charging to 9V and 12V, so Leung says that QC3.0 isn’t Type-C compliant.
The HTC 10 and LG G5 have been certified to work with Quick Charge 3.0, and I’m sure that HTC and LG tested their devices to try and ensure that they won’t burst into flames while being fast-charged. That said, they apparently don’t meet the USB Type-C spec that guarantees everything will work together safely. It’s unclear what, if anything, might happen with these phones using QC3.0 over USB-C. And while Leung’s explanation may not deter most folks from buying an HTC 10 or LG G5 if they were already planning to, his report is still worth noting.
For more nitty-gritty info on Quick Charge 3.0 and USB-Type C, you can view one of Benson Leung’s posts on the topic right here.