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# The USB plug never goes in on the first try
- URL: https://www.thefrictionlog.com/08930/
- Published: 2026-10-16T21:10:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-16T21:10:22.000Z
- Description: Filed: the late 1990s · Patched · The reversible USB-C plug
- Author: The Clerk
- Tags: Patched

*The port is around the back where I can't see it, so I just keep flipping the thing.* — Desktop owner, 2012

Ajay Bhatt, who helped create USB, says its one-way plug was the biggest mess with USB. A plug that flips needed twice as many wires, and his team worried about the cost. USB-C finally fixed it. The oval plug goes in either way up, so you only try once. The European Union has required it on new phones since December 2024, and on laptops since April 2026\. But the old flat plug, USB-A, is still on plenty of laptops and desktops. One of the people who made it agrees with you.

**For now**: find the USB logo on the plug; it marks the top, so in a horizontal port the logo side usually goes up.

**Relates to** [No. 09150](https://www.thefrictionlog.com/09150/).