With the launch of the HTC 10, we now have another Android smartphone that will adopt the USB-C standard. Now if you’re the owner of a HTC 10, here’s a tale of caution that you might want to take to heart, and that is you should probably never charge the phone with a charger/USB-C cable that wasn’t provided by HTC.
According to a report from Jerry Hildenbrand at Android Central, it seem that he accidentally charged his HTC 10 using a Google Pixel C charger. Given that they are both USB-C chargers, you would think that it isn’t an issue, kind of like charging your iPhone with an iPad charger, but as it turns out it matters.
Hildenbrand reported that his phone ended up being too hot to touch and actually shut itself down. He had to toss it in the freezer just to let it cool down. Turns out he isn’t alone because another Android Central reporter experienced something similar with a different charger/cable. Now to be fair, HTC had previously warned that users charge their phones with the provided cable and charger, however we did not think that this would be the result of using another charger and cable.
Googler Benson Leung had also previously warned about incompatible USB-C cables, so maybe you should start taking this issue seriously if you haven’t already. In the past we have seen phones catch on fire and explode due to the use of unauthorized chargers, but thankfully this was not one of those situations (although it could have), so like we said, the next time you think about using another company’s USB-C charger or cable with your HTC 10, think again.