XTEINK Says They’re Bringing Back USB-C Ports

With the recent release of the Xteink X4 Classic, there was a lot of blowback about Xteink’s decision to switch to a pogo connector instead of using a standard USB-C port like the original X4 had.

Xteink had already transitioned to using pogo pins on their smaller Xteink X3 and the new X4 Pro, and that was a major sticking point for some people too, and now that Xteink currently offers zero models with USB-C ports, the anti-pogo complaints starting becoming too loud to ignore.

It got to a point where the founder of Xteink posted a response on reddit explaining their decision to move away from USB ports to make their ereaders thinner and lighter. That was met with more outrage over the subject, both from people wanting Xteink to bring back USB-C ports and from other people tired of hearing complaints about USB ports.

After all the drama, it looks like Xteink has decided to listen to their customers and bring back USB-C ports, at least to some extent. It sounds like they plan to offer both options in the future, but they don’t go into any details about it.

Here’s a quote from the official update over the pogo vs USB-C battle:

Thanks again to everyone who joined the discussion around Pogo and USB-C. I’ve spent a lot of time reading through the comments and bringing the feedback back to our team.

One thing became pretty clear: some of you really value having the thinnest and lightest device possible, while others would rather accept a little more thickness for USB-C and a more convenient everyday experience.

We don’t think everyone should have to make the same trade-off.

So we’ve decided to work in both directions.

We’ll keep exploring thinner and lighter eReaders, while also working toward bringing USB-C back as an option in future products.

That work has already started.

Thanks for being so direct with us. Please keep the feedback coming.

It’ll be interesting to see how all this pans out. Are they going to release an X4 Pro with a USB-C port now? What about the X3? Is it only going to apply to future products, or are they going to release an X4 V2 USB-C variant now? How long will it take to redesign and produce USB models now that all their current models use thinner designs and pogo connectors? It sounds like a pretty big change on Xteink’s behalf, but it’s good to see they’re actually listening to what people want.