Everything You Need to Know About USB 4 in a Single Place

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 A new USB standard, formally known as USB 4 (or USB4 as it is abbreviated), is on the horizon, and like WiFi 6E or mobile 5G, you undoubtedly have a lot of concerns about what the new USB standard implies for your various devices. Take a look at all we know about the forthcoming USB4 in a short overview.

It represents a significant increase in both speed and bandwidth.

In comparison to the existing USB 3.2 standard (20Gbps), USB4 is expected to be twice as fast, meaning it will be capable of supporting rates of up to 40Gbps as a maximum in most cases. (Please keep in mind that your real speeds may vary based on the devices you are using.)

When sending and receiving signals from linked devices, USB cables make use of two "lanes." Although certain devices will be able to alter the delivery direction of a USB4 connection, this will not be the case for all. For example, the "Alt mode" of DisplayPort 2.0 will boost the available signal bandwidth to 80Gbps, which is sufficient to handle 8K HDR video displays and other high-speed devices via USB4. Because of the two-lane transmission, certain USB4 devices will be able to support Intel and Apple's Thunderbolt 3 standard, but whether or not they do so will be up to the individual manufacturers.

Speaking of larger bandwidth allotment, USB4 also supports the USB PD charging standard, which means your smartphones and other gadgets will be able to charge considerably quicker via USB4—provided they’re designed to handle fast charging, that is.

USB4 devices are capable of supporting three different maximum transfer speeds: 10Gbps, 20Gbps, and 40Gbps. In other words, when purchasing a new laptop, make sure you carefully examine the device's specifications to get a feel of its highest supported speeds if that is what is most essential to you (or hub).

USB4 will be backward compatible with previous versions of the standard.

Type-C connections will be used in USB4 cables, which are the flat, rounded ports that can be found on the majority of smartphones and laptops these days.

Plugging a USB4 cable into almost any USB Type-C port should be possible, although it will not always work in the same manner. For example, when a USB4 cable is put into an earlier port, the transfer speed will be reduced, while older USB Type-C cables plugged into a USB4B 4.0 port would utilize their highest-possible transfer speed by default (although they will not be able to achieve the same rates as a USB4 cable).

Similarly, you may need an adaptor in order to utilize USB4 cables with USB Kind-A ports, which are the type of connectors that are often found on PCs.

What is the significance of the designation "USB4"?

As explained by Brad Saunders, the CEO of the USB Promoter Group, the designation "USB4" was selected to prevent confusion created by incremental improvements to earlier USB standards, such as "USB 3.1" and "USB 3.2." It's also conceivable that USB4 will be re-branded, or that future improvement — such as what would've otherwise been referred to as "USB 4.1" — would have more distinct name changes despite the fact that they are still officially classified as "USB4".

When will USB4 make an appearance?

The first USB4 cables and devices are anticipated to come towards the end of 2020, although it is more probable that they will arrive in 2021 at this time. Part of this is due to the fact that manufacturing USB4 will be more expensive than manufacturing earlier versions of USB. A worldwide production shutdown/slowness/Hell is now in progress, and this is not helping to accelerate the introduction of USB4 in any way.