No, instead you have two, with differing capabilities but the same form factor. And you have way more than 5 different cable types, each capable of different things, again, with the same form factor.
I'm not yet convinced this is an improvement.
All of those can be used to do the same thing -- just with a smaller powered current, and/or slower speed.
Just don't buy crappy cables:
https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/4/10916264/usb-c-russian-rou...
Just buy high-end USB-C cables from a reputable vendor and you are set. As long as some product (e.g. a printer or hard drive) comes with a specific USB-C cable, use it with that, and it will be good for it. End of story.
As far as I can tell, the advice should probably actually be "Buy high end Thunderbolt 3 cables from a reputable vendor."
Or the fact that's very easy to just buy another one for data/video etc?
I guess the standard could do with some color coding, but it's not like its the end of the world. Or worth it to have N different connector technologies just so we can differentiate what does what.
But why in the world don't they also sell an Apple-branded Thunderbolt 3 cable?
https://arstechnica.com/video/2016/11/the-2016-13-and-15-inc...