Last year, both The Wall Street Journal and Sammobile reported that the Galaxy S7 would feature a Type C USB connector. As you may know, the Galaxy S7 does not feature a Type C USB connector. But these rumors didn't come out of thin air - it seems more likely than anything that Samsung was at least testing Type C connectivity on the Galaxy S7, but for one reason or another ended up sticking with the tried-and-true micro-B connector.

Sammobile is back at it again, this time claiming the Note 6 will mark Samsung's USB-C debut. I do find this more plausible than the S7 rumor, so let me posit my theory here.

Galaxy Note devices have always had a much stronger appeal among early adopters and smartphone enthusiasts. You know, the sort of people much less likely to complain about having to buy new cables and who are willing to do some cursory research about them. The Galaxy S7, by comparison, is 100% mainstream, and introducing a new port standard out of the blue isn't likely to engender such warm, fuzzy feelings from the general public. Do you really think the average smartphone buyer cares that USB-C is a promising new universal connector standard? No: they care about none of their old cables fitting their phone and whether or not their old chargers will work.

The Note series would allow Samsung to introduce a new charging cable (let's be honest, to 90% of people, the data part is irrelevant) to an audience much less resistant to change. Given Note devices sell in much smaller numbers than their Galaxy S counterparts, Samsung runs relatively little risk of damaging buyer revolt, and can use this "test run" to make sure quality, compatibility, and the port design itself are all up to snuff.

By the time the Galaxy S8 (or whatever it will be called) launches next year, there will be even more Type C smartphones on the market. HTC and LG already seem to have bought into the Type C port shape fully (even if their implementations lack USB Power Delivery), and many Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi and LeEco are on board with it as well. The shift in ports is happening, and Samsung's main question at this point in regard to Type C is likely not "if," but "when."

Now, just how Samsung will implement Type C itself is a whole other issue. Will it be USB3.1, or will it be a USB 2.0 port simply with the new Type C connector? Will Samsung keep using its semi-proprietary adaptive fast charging (which would be in violation of the USB C spec), or will they switch to USB Power Delivery USB-C compliant charging, a la the Nexus 5X and 6P?

These questions we can't know the answers to just yet, and likely won't until the first Samsung phone with a Type C connector launches. But the Note 6 sounds like the best time for Samsung to make that switch.

Source: Sammobile