Dealing with a Surface Duo chipped / cracked USB-C Port

My own Surface Duo is probably the worst case of this issue as the previous owner dropped it! This was good and bad, good in so much as I bought it for a great price (see my previous post), not so good as I have to deal with the issue – and I don’t want to lose any functionality of this device over my planned usage period (and let’s be honest, that is probably only a year given my track record of phone switching!)

This issue has been quite widely reported, notably here in the Windows Central website. I always like to have some sort of case for all my phones and managed to pick up a cheap Otterbox case on Amazon Warehouse – I like the look of this case as it not only provides space for a pen and cards but also allows near 360-degree rotation of the hinge to allow for both selfie and normal photos to be taken.

Having chosen my case I then looked at the options around providing some additional support for the USB-C port itself. I put a piece of clear tape across the obvious cracks in the case (probably not needed in most cases) and then looked at the following two options that both remove the requirement to constantly be plugging and unplugging cables into the port for charging:

Both these options work in the same way by effectively reducing the requirement to repeatedly utilise the USB-C port. If you are someone who wants to make use of USB-C Hub, perhaps for keyboard/mouse/HDMI use, then the former option is perhaps the best as it still allows onward use of the USB-C port, however, as I envisage only connecting wirelessly myself I prefer the second option – which has the added benefit of endowing the Duo with wireless charging functionality.

This is what it looks like prior to using the Otterbox case (Note that the USB-C connector is still free to be disconnected should you wish to make use of it for other purposes)

NB In spite of the fact that I usually just charge up my phone overnight I did do a little test and was pleased to find that the Duo can be charged to a usable state quote quickly using this method \\:-)

I should also mention in case it isn’t obvious that the wireless charger above is very thin – consequently, I would expect it to work with almost any style of case.