To elaborate: Why must a USB cable look different from an HDMI cable? Why must we have B-type and C-type chargers? Why use circular audio jacks when it can be “USB’ed” instead? and so on
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As an analogy, we don’t have a universal type of car. Instead we have sedans, sports cars, mini-vans, pickup trucks, school buses, ambulance etc., each having its own purpose.
Cables are no different:
* Some cables are designed to cover longer distances, while others are meant for very short distances. E.g., ethernet can span 100 meters, HDMI maxes out around 20 meters. while the thin USB cable is designed for less than 3 meters. A USB cable that can go 100 meters would probably need to be as thick as an ethernet cable, which wouldn’t be convenient for mobile devices.
* Some cables are meant for industrial use instead of home use. E.g., professional microphone cables have very thick XLR plugs (about 10x the thickness of a USB C connector) because it has to be very robust physically and electrically for use on a live stage, etc. It would be disastrous to use USB C for a live stage production, and it would be inappropriate to use XLR plugs on a slim smartphone.
* Cables like HDMI must deliver high bandwidth (48 Gbps) to support 8K video, etc., while for USB C 20 Gbps is currently sufficient.
* USB C is meant to be used for smaller devices so it’s useful for it to carry < 100W of power. But 100W is way too small many TVs, home theatre systems, etc.. These appliances are typically plugged into the electric mains anyway, so a HDMI doesn’t need to be designed to carry power.
TL;DR: we can’t have one universal cable because we want to have the best cable thats suited for its intended use. We need thicker cables for long transmissions; We want robust connectors for tough environments; We want high bandwidth cables for our home entertainment; We want thin power-carrying cables for our mobile devices.
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