The speedy USB4 is nearly ready to roll out as the USB Implementers Forum announces the final specifications of the upcoming device.
With the technical specifications confirmed, hardware and software developers can now begin to build and produce products that can support the USB4 in time for its expected launch in 2020.
Highlights Of The Upgraded USB4
Going by the specifications released by the USB-IF, the latest reiteration of the USB will offer a smooth, speedy, and seamless experience for users.
One of the most impressive things about the new USB4 is that it's much faster than the previous versions. It will have a transfer speed of up to 40 gigabits per second, which is twice the speed of the latest current generation USB 3.2.
CNET noted that most people do not even have the latest version of the technology and continue to run on earlier versions at about 5Gbps or 10Gbps. This means that the shift towards USB4 will be much more dramatic, but fortunately, the developers made sure that the new product incorporates seamlessly into old systems.
USB4 will sport the same form as the USB type-C with backward compatibility to USB 3.2, USB 2.0, and Thunderbolt 3. Basically, any USB type-C device can be used on a USB4 bus and just like the USB3, the connection will support data and display protocols.
The new USB4 will help bridge the gap between the universal but slow USB3 and the elusive yet speedy Thunderbolt 3, bringing the 40Gps two-way connection to different platforms.
Data splitting is also expected to be much better in the USB4, according to Tom's Hardware. The USB4 is expected to be much more efficient in allocating bandwidth for data and video being sent at the same time so that if a monitor is using 20 percent of the bandwidth on video, the other 80 percent could be used for other purposes.
Keeping Things Simple
According to USB Promoter Group CEO Brad Saunders, the group's decision to remove the space between USB and the version number is to keep the focus on the brand rather than the version.
"One of the things I've trying to signal right now is that we don't plan to get into a 4.0, 4.1, 4.2 kind of iterative path," Saunders explained to Tom's Hardware. "And we don't want it to be associated and used with products as a differentiator ... we want to keep it as simple as possible.
