It’s done, the next USB standard is ratified and manufacturers will be able to begin to integrate it on devices and components. The promises are appealing with doubled speed and backward compatibility with older devices.
As promised in March, the USB Implementers Forum has finalized its work on USB4, the next USB connector standard that has become indispensable over the years for computers. The USB4 is a bit like the marriage of USB 3.2 and Thunderbolt 3, expensive for Mac, with both a doubled promise of speed, but also a back-accounting with USB 2.0, USB 3.2 and the Thunderbolt 3.
In theory, the USB4 promises an increase in the transfer speed to reach 40 Gbps. It has become a priority for transferring data to an external storage medium, but also for connecting a screen with increasingly large video streams, in this case accounting with the DisplayPort 1.4 and a display maximum in 8K.
Manufacturers can attack production
In practice, the USB4 will take the form of the USB-C with these small oval connectors; it is expected that this format becomes widespread and that, little by little, the old USB socket disappears from computers. This means at the same time that this type of connector should appear on street furniture items such as chargers in railway stations or transport on aircraft seats.
For now, this validation means that the standard is ratified and that manufacturers can start producing appropriate cables, devices, and other devices. We must also think of motherboards, external hard drives and of course, USB sticks and adapters. According to the USB-IF, it usually takes 12 to 18 months before the first products appear. The appointment is made in September 2020.