Something fast is coming your way! The bigwigs at the conveniently named USB 3.0 Promoter Group have finally decided on the USB 3.2 standard, and recently made the official announcement.
PDF file, that.
The products may only really start arriving in a couple of years from now, but you can almost feel the excitement of the speedy changes this quick new standard will unleash.
So, how fast is USB 3.2?
Well, let’s keep it simple — it is capable of achieving twice the speed of the older standard.
That being USB 3.1, which made the news in July 2013.
This new standard, though, utilizes multichain memory lanes, or two lanes of data transfer rather than just one. Meaning, USB 3.2 will be able to transfer 20 Gbits per second of data, compared to the 10 Gbits per second that was possible with USB 3.1 Gen 2 devices.
In other words, the theoretical maximum speed of the USB technology is now finally on par with the first version of the Thunderbolt interface. Version 3 of which is currently capable of blistering high throughputs of 40 Gbits per second!
Then again, Intel has really struggled with the mainstream adoption of its Thunderbolt interface, and the chip giant was forced to take away the licensing fee for its usage earlier this year.
Speaking of adoption, while the Promoter Group is mum on the availability of USB 3.2 devices, it reckons that they may take around 12 to 18 months to hit the market. But with industry heavyweights like Intel, Microsoft and Apple part of the equation, it is only a matter of time before things kick into high gear.
The USB Type-C standard has only now started to hit mainstream, and is on track to grow at a rate of 69% annually by 2021.
Microsoft was quick to add support for USB 3.1 in Windows 10, and the same is expected of USB 3.2.
Media creators, photographers and users that deal with 4K videos are sure to find the most benefit of this new USB 3.2 standard, which as you might expect, is also backwards compatible as far as the cables are concerned.
Good stuff all around.
