New USB version to offer 80Gbps speeds via Type C cable

NEW DELHI: The USB is taking a new avatar and soon, the USB 4 version 2.0 will be capable of delivering speeds up to 80 Gbps over the Type C cable -- double the capacity of the original USB 4, even Thunderbolt 4.

The USB Promoter Group has announced the pending release of the USB4 Version 2.0 specification, a major update to enable up to 80 Gbps of data performance over the USB Type-C cable and connector.

The USB Type-C and USB Power Delivery (USB PD) specifications will also be updated to enable this higher level of data performance.

"Once again following USB tradition, this updated USB4 specification doubles data performance to deliver higher levels of functionality to the USB Type-C ecosystem," said Brad Saunders, Chairman, USB Promoter Group.

"Solutions seeing the most benefit from this speed enhancement include higher-performance displays, storage, and USB-based hubs and docks," he said in a statement.

All of these specification updates are expected to be published in advance of this year's series of USB DevDays developer events planned for November.

Protocol updates are also being made to enable higher performance USB 3.2, DisplayPort and PCI Express (PCIe) data tunneling to best use the higher available bandwidth.

Key characteristics of the updated USB4 solution include up to 80Gbps operation, based on a new physical layer architecture, using existing 40 Gbps USB Type-C passive cables and newly-defined 80 Gbps USB Type-C active cables.

It will offer updates to data and display protocols to better use the increase in available bandwidth, and backward compatibility with USB4 Version 1.0, USB 3.2, USB 2.0 and Thunderbolt 3.

"This update is specifically targeted to developers at this time", said the group which has Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, Renesas Electronics Corporation, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments as members.