Part of the reason we liked the Nexus 5 (2013) so much was that it incorporated technology that wasn’t mainstream yet – things like OIS and wireless charging. So it was disappointing to see the new Nexus phones take a step back, but at least now we know why.

Hiroshi Lockheimer, Android VP of Engineering, explained the reasoning behind the move in a Reddit AMA. Essentially, microUSB was seen as slow and a hassle and wireless charging made sense. Now USB Type-C plugs is easier to plug in and charges the battery faster, plus dropping Qi wireless charging allowed the engineers to make the phone thinner.

Straight from the horse's mouth:

...So, ease of plugging in + fast charging + optimizing for thinness made us double down on Type-C instead of wireless!

Now, the Nexus chargers are only 15W, while Oppo pushed 25W through microUSB 2.0 so the "fast charging" claim doesn’t stand.Plus we even have fast wireless chargers – not as fast as their wired counterparts, but much faster than what the Nexus 4 and 5 had.

Also, the Galaxy S6 is a full millimeter thinner than the Nexus 5X and it supports two wireless charging standards. True, its battery is 150mAh smaller, but I think making the phone 1mm thicker could easily have filled that in. So that's dubious too. The Galaxy S6 edge+ is thinner than the Nexus 6P too, though the difference in thickness is smaller, while the difference in battery bigger.

The USB Type-C is indeed easier to plug in, there's no reason for this to be an either-or situation. You can read the rest of the AMA here.

Source | Via