Here’s what the symbol means and where it came from. The iconic power symbol, explained The power symbol, which can still be seen on nearly all modern PCs and laptops, originated in the 1950s.

Three symbols were adopted for power, including the familiar one, the aforementioned enclosed circle, and the waning crescent Moon for sleep. The IEEE standardized these in IEEE Standard 1621.

The majority of modern smartphones make use of the USB Power Delivery 2.0 and 3.0 specification. 25 to 45W of power is quite typical for smartphones, while today’s laptops pull around as much as ...

While the power symbol made it into Unicode in 2015, it's been around for much longer. The goal in moving it to Unicode was to add a crucial symbol used around the world by the masses.

USB Power Delivery is much more powerful, supporting up to 240W of power to charge up even the most demanding gadgets such as laptops. It’s also safer, as gadgets and chargers communicate with ...