As best I can find, there's no logo/mark to indicate compliance with PD3.0, nor for PPS.

If it's compliant with those, I suspect it'll be in the documentation.

You're probably on the right track - they designed this for their devices, will publish what it can do but not claim compliance with a spec they didn't build specifically to target. Even if they use PD3/PPS, if they don't label it, don't claim it, they never have to deal with lack of compliance.

In the High Level Design meetings (or equivalent), they probably laid out charging time/performance requirements which included using exsiting commodity tech and general conformance to USB C.

This so any PD compliant charger could charge the laptop, but their own charger would follow it's own specs.

Counter question: where does it say on there that it’s PD3.0?

Nowhere. I found no mention of PD anything which inspires some of my questions.

Perhaps it follows since stuff from the PD3 specs and that’s why that tester said it, but this is guesswork.

That’s indeed the sort of answer I was looking for. The testing device detects PD3. This somewhat suggests that electronically the PSU (falsely) identifies itself as PD 3.0-compliant.

Perhaps I’m misunderstanding you but the gist of your text is “why is this item not saying what a random guy said it should say??”

I want to understand the contradiction. The testing device declares that the PSU is PD3. But the test results led the blogger to claim it’s not PPS. So where is the lying occuring? I expect the PD protocols to establish a handshake whereby each side of the handshake discloses the PD revision it adheres to. Otherwise the protocol is quite shitty.

If we assume a non-shitty protocol, than the Dell PSU is falsely announcing itself as PD3 and the tester is just a messenger.

Edit: remember that companies need to pay fees when they advertise with the standard - they can just follow its spec without advertising it at all, I can see that happening for laptop producers specially as they don’t sell their power units as generic products (i.e. with a focus to market them).

That’s interesting. I suppose the fees finance a certification effort. And I suppose that’s fair enough. But if a device claims to be PD3 not on the label but makes this claim in the electronic protocol, the claim is still a claim nonetheless. People and machines rely on claims made by protocols. And I suppose it’s all legally dicey. Dell could not be easily prosecuted for false advertising if they wrote nothing on the box or label that a buyer would see. But the hardware is still lying about its capability and I would think that would (or should) have consequences.

I think you just said what I was trying to say, only you said it more clearly. Haha

It’s not clear. The testing device claims the PSU is PD3. But why? Is the testing device guessing? Or is the PSU outright announcing in the protocol “I am a PD3 PSU”?

IOW, it’s a standing question. My conjecture is that the PSU makes this claim electronically, when handshaking in the USB PD protocol.

I appreciate the link. I wanted to see what you saw, so I opened the ZIP file and it expands to 27 files. I believe the relevant file is USB_PD_R3.2_V1.2_2026_05_20.pdf, page 42, which states:

3.2.5.2. SPR Programmable Power Supply (PPS) Programmable Power Supply (PPS) is Optional. When included, the voltages and currents a PPS Shall support are as defined in Table 3.4.

If it’s optional in rev. 3.2, I assume it’s optional in rev 3.0. I’m a bit astonished because PPS is probably the most signficant feature of rev.3. The industry is not competent enough to even tell consumers which rev a device conforms to. But if it did, typical Wikipedia-informed consumers who see PD “rev.3” advertised would naturally expect PPS. As you are correct that PPS is indeed optional, many consumers will get burnt by the misunderstanding.

A potentially interesting follow-up question would be whether the laptop’s mainboard PDO tells you the laptop supports PPS even though its power brick doesn’t.

What’s PDO?

The problem seems to be that a laptop could be designed to /need/ PPS, e.g. if the voltage it needs is well below 20v. While most PSUs do not advertise USB-PD 3(+) compliance, much less PPS.