USB has come a long way since its humble origins as a better port for plugging your mouse or printer into your PC. And it’s going to take a big step further late next year with the release of products with the technology’s latest version, USB 4.
Announced this week, USB 4 will offer data transfer to 40 gigabits per second, double today’s USB 3.2 speeds. And it has other improvements, too, because USB is swallowing up technology from Thunderbolt, a competing premium format thatIntel decided to share freely.
“We get the one connector that works with everything, offers high-end performance and works not just on high-end systems,” the premium niche that Thunderbolt never escaped, said Technalysis Research analyst Bob O’Donnell. “In the end, life will get much easier for everybody.”
There are lots of details, nuances and even confusion about what exactly USB is and isn’t. Let’s shed some light.
Read more at CNET.com