inCharge: The Smallest, Cutest USB Charging Cable

The inCharge Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign is well underway and the ultra-compact approach to charging cables seems to be a hit. Designed by two brothers who are currently studying engineering in Italy, the tiny — and dare I say cute? — cable cuts out a lot of the length of wire. Extraneous cabling has become largely obsolete in the portable age and with inCharge, a wide flat strip of colourful rubber replaces this intermediate wiring to prevent cable clutter and the dreaded tangle effect.

The opposing USB and the Lightning/Micro ends of the of inCharge feature magnets which allow the entire cable to become a closed keyring loop. While this magnetic seal does look remarkably strong when it snaps shut in the video, the potential for such a clasp to come unstuck in a busy pocket is always there. However it’s certainly a novel and minimalist approach to securing what can be a notoriously fiddly object.

The flexible stem of the cable is available in 10 different colours: 7 vibrant and 3 monochrome options, and this does a lot for the persona of the device.

inCharge is obviously primarily designed to be portable, and no doubt its short cable is perfect for laptops, but the limited length does mean that devices will be left hanging in mid-air if plugged into a desktop computer’s USB port or from a mains power outlet. This isn’t exactly ideal. However it is demonstrated in the video that the flat cable can somehow be kinked to stand a phone upright, but the stability of such an arrangement remains unseen.

The duo have blasted their Indiegogo target of $20,000 by over 1,300% and still have over 3 weeks left in their campaign. They set the price of their cables at a very reasonable $9 which in my mind is the perfect amount for such a item, and has no doubt helped them reach their goal in such style.

inCharge has also taken the responsible decision of giving the customer a choice as to whether they’d like to pay $1 extra to receive their cable in packaging. Take up of the $10 packaged option is currently low and hopefully larger companies will take note.

We leave you the choice whether to get your inCharge with or without the packaging. We’d like to minimize our impact on the environment by avoiding unnecessary waste from packaging material.Lorenzo Filiberto Ferraris / Carlo Edoardo Ferraris