The new USB Type-C!

on March 21, 20152 min read

[alert type=blue ]Did you C the new USB? (Pun intended)[/alert]

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and communication protocols used in a bus for connection, communication, and power supply between computers and electronic devices. It was designed to standardize the connection of computer peripherals (including keyboards, pointing devices, digital cameras, printers, portable media players, disk drives and network adapters) to personal computers, both to communicate and to supply electric power. As the name suggests, it is “Universal”, meaning it can be used by anyone. Over the years, the USB connector has seen a few changes with every iteration bringing better compatibility and faster data transfer rates. The previous version, the USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed USB) had a maximum bandwidth rate of 5Gbps. This was not much compared to other connectors like thunderbolt for example.

In January 2013, the USB group revealed plans to upgrade the existing USB 3.0 to a USB 3.1 (SuperSpeed+) with transfer speed upto 10Gbps. The USB 3.1 is also called as the USB Type-C. The USB C has a totally redesigned connector which is about the size of the micro USB 2.0 connector and [highlight color=#229CDC ]IT IS REVERSIBLE[/highlight], finally. The small profile allows the standard USB-C connector to be used in a wide range of devices, ranging from Laptops and Tablets to Smartphones. As it has a very high data transfer rate, it can be used to connect a wide range of devices like 4K monitors and it can transfer a power of upto 100W which enables us to charge laptops using this port. This allows us to have just one charger to charge any of your electronics.

Though USB-C is in its early stages of adaptation, in the coming months, we will see a wide spread use of the USB Type-C. Already, a few notebooks like the new Macbook and the Chromebook pixel have USB-C ports, which can be used both for charging and data transfer. The USB-C port is the only port, apart from a 3.5mm Headphone jack, on the new Macbook. This shows how robust USB-C is. There is also a Nokia N1 tablet, that has the USB-C port already.