The new version of the USB standard, called USB 4 v2.0, will allow us to keep our old cables while taking advantage of the latest technological advances, in particular a doubling of the transfer speed.
Faster cables without having to do anything. Such is the promise of USB 4 v2.0, the characteristics of which were almost finalized at the start of the new school year. Fruit of the work carried out by the USB Promoter Group, this new standard (not to be confused with USB 4 v1.0) should double the maximum transfer speed, from 40 Gb / s to 80 Gb / s.
Backward compatibility for obligation
Another good news is that cables already capable of transferring data at 40 Gb/s will be able to take advantage of this speed gain as soon as the new protocol is implemented. This one is indeed backwards compatible with the old standard thanks to “a new physical layer architecture”, specifies the USB Promoter Group. And if the standard evolves, the connector remains the same since USB 4 v2.0 still uses USB-C plugs.
Unfortunately, the technical explanations on this backward compatibility have not been delivered by the organization responsible for the development. A spokesperson simply told The Verge that “this advantage became an obligation during the development of the new standard”. More details will be given in the coming weeks.
The fastest protocol
This leap allows the new protocol to be among the fastest on the market, since even the Thunderbolt 4, which does not use the same transfer technology, but materializes in the form of a USB-C cable, is limited to 40 Gb/s.
USB 4 v2.0 has been specifically designed to better accommodate multiple devices now connected via USB-C: screens, storage devices, USB hubs, etc. If you’re plugging multiple monitors, hard drives, and other connectors into your laptop, the 80 Gbps of throughput should make your life easier. And not to spoil anything, this new standard will also improve the speed of USB 3.2, as well as the support for the DisplayPort protocol.
It won’t be possible to upgrade to a computer with USB 4 v2.0 ports anytime soon. According to the USB Promoter Group, “this update is specifically for developers at this time”. It will therefore be necessary to wait for many months before being able to link nine 4K screens and twelve hard drives simultaneously to your computer.