This is what the new USB 4 Version 2.0 standard offers
The USB 4.0 standard, also called USB4, announced in the summer of 2019, already has a successor, although it is not called USB 5.0 or USB5, as would be the most logical, but rather USB4 version 2.0, although everything seems to indicate that in the future , the nomenclatures of this standard will become easier as older versions disappear.
The new USB4 version 2.0 comes to double the bandwidth of the original version, reaching peaks of up to 80 Gbps, maintaining the same type of connector that is becoming more common in electronic devices, USB Type-C.
Doubling the transfer speed
And with the arrival of the new standard, presented by the USB Promoter Group on September 1, it comes at a time when the majority of devices that are reaching the market integrate the USB 3.2 standard, which offers a bandwidth of 20 Gbps.
Currently, devices that support the original USB4 standard are still a minority, so it will take a number of years for USB4 version 2.0 to be common in devices that reach the market.
Regarding the new standard, it is interesting to know that it also far exceeds the bandwidth offered by the Thunderbolt 4 standard, which is limited to 40GBps, although Thunderbolt 5 is also expected to reach bandwidth peaks of 80Gbps. .
According to the USB Prompter Group, the key features of the new standard are:
– Up to 80 Gbps operation, based on a new physical layer architecture, using existing 40 Gbps USB
– Newly defined 80Gbps USB Type-C passive cables and active USB Type-C cables.
– Updates to data and display protocols to better take advantage of increased available bandwidth.
– Updates to the USB data architecture now allow the USB 3.2 data tunnel to exceed 20 Gbps.
– Updated to align with the latest versions of the DisplayPort and PCIe specifications.
– Backward compatibility with USB4 version 1.0, USB 3.2, USB 2.0, and Thunderbolt™ 3.
The organization hopes to be able to publish all the specifications of the new standard, thus reaching its official launch, before the USB DevDays event for developers arrives, scheduled for the month of November.
There is no doubt that the new standard will be able to take full advantage of those who work with a high volume of data.
