OnePlus is currently offering a refund program for consumers who purchased its USB Type-C cables.
These are the same cables that were bundled with the company's OnePlus 2 flagship smartphones that came out in August of this year, The Verge reported.
The company admitted that its USB Type-C cables uses a different resistor that other standard types. This could cause the cable to draw too much power which could damage the cable itself or the device it is plugged in to when charging.
"Our cable and adapter use a 10kΩ resistor, but according to version 1.1 of the Type-C port standard, these products should be using a 56kΩ resistor," OnePlus wrote in its forum page. "The issue is that the cable and adapter are designed for a maximum of 2 amps of power, but the resistor will allow fast-charging devices to draw more power than a power source may allow."
"This could result in damage to the power source (third-party charger, USB port, etc.) if the device and power source do not have an internal mechanism to self-regulate the amount of power flowing to or from them," the company continued.
OnePlus, however, assured its customers that its USB Type-C cables can be safely used for its OnePlus 2 devices. The problem only occurs if the cables are used with devices made by other companies.
Due to the issue and to ensure the safety of its customers and their devices, OnePlus launched a refund program for those who purchased the USB Type-C cable separately for their non-OnePlus devices.
Those who are eligible to receive a refund may register here. After registering, customers will be contacted by the company's customer support team. This program will run until December 31.
The issue regarding OnePlus' USB Type-C cables emerged after Benson Leung, a software engineer from Google, tested and reviewed it. He made it clear that the cable comes with a different resistor specification that is not compatible with other devices, Digital Trends has learned.
Since Leung made the review before OnePlus began its refund program, he advised users to mark the cables with tag to remind them that it should not be used with devices other than the OnePlus 2.
"However, it's still not cool to keep that cable around because the next phone or tablet or laptop computer you might buy might support 3A fast charging, and if you forget that cable is bad, you may damage a charger sometime in the future," he said in the comment section of his Google+ post.
"If you want to keep the cable, mark it with a tag so you don't forget it's special," he added.
