that didn't stop them from announcing new speeds (80 and 120Gbps) as USB4 2.0 though...

They have not. There are still optional components of USB4.

I’m not sure how or why this happens. USB, HDMI, BLE, all have optional components and it’s insanely frustrating. It’s got to be some new feature of designed-by-committee groups where it’s easy to get a feature only 1/2 the group wants.

Because, you see, if power transmission is optional, we can manufacture a cable without it for 37¢ instead of 39¢. Think of the savings!

... yes, I hate it too :(

For longer cables the cost is significant. USB-C can carry 5A, so you need 18 gauge wire for ~12 feet. Ideally you'd do the 8 power/ground pins at 18awg and the 16 data pins at 28awg. But that's a substantially more expensive cable than just 24 wires of 28awg.

And as a user it's annoying to have an excessively stiff cable, so it's suboptimal to have every cable support 240W charging, but for cost and convenience.

It's a mess. We all said we wanted one cable that does everything, and I still feel that way, but here I am buying different cables for laptop charging versus iPad charging because I want a light/thin cable for the iPad. Sigh.

By Grabthar's Hammer