Just a week later, after revealing the details about USB 3.2, yesterday at the Taipei event, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) team announced USB 4, the next version of the ubiquitous connector. According to the USB-IF team, with USB 4, the transferring speed will increase from 20Gbps to 40Gbps.
The team at USB-IF uses Thunderbolt 3 as the foundation for USB 4. Intel provides the manufacturers with Thunderbolt 3 along with open licensing. USB4 will be integrating this technology and will become the “new” Thunderbolt 3. USB4 will now be ready for powerful PCIe plus DisplayPort devices.
USB 4 can get connected with external graphics card enclosure, two 4K monitors, and other Thunderbolt 3 accessories using a single cable connected to a PC. It will also be compatible with USB 2.0 and 3.2.
USB 4 will come with support for charging speeds of 100W of power, transfer speeds of 40 Gbps, and video bandwidth for two 4K displays or one 5K display. It’s most likely to get widely available and cheaper in the future.
In a statement to Techspot, Brad Saunders, USB Promoter Group Chairman, said, “The primary goal of USB is to deliver the best user experience combining data, display and power delivery over a user-friendly and robust cable and connector solution. The USB4 solution specifically tailors bus operation to further enhance this experience by optimizing the blend of data and display over a single connection and enabling the further doubling of performance.”
The USB-IF team plans to produce a list of features for USB 4, which will help in standardizing features such as display out and audio out. Though the exact features are yet to be determined.
Few users are not much confident about USB 4. One of the users commented on HackerNews, “Maybe it will charge the device. Maybe it won’t. Maybe it’ll do USB hosting, maybe it won’t.” Few users think that the company’s major focus is on manufacturers while user experience is secondary. Another comment reads, “USB-IF is for manufacturers, most of whom want to do whatever the cheapest quickest thing is. The user experience absolutely comes second to manufacturing cost and marking convenience.”
To know more about this, check out the post by engadget.
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