USB4: Release date, Features, Availability, Transfer speeds, and More

Although the particular port and connection needed can vary greatly, the Universal Serial Bus, or USB connector, has long been a standard for a wide range of devices. By incorporating many of Thunderbolt 3's top capabilities, USB4 is altering that. Compared to all previous versions of USB, USB4 is faster, has more power, and may even be more standard in the industry.

USB4: Performance

The speed increase over USB3 is USB4's primary advantage right away. USB4 is capable of data transfers at speeds of up to 40 Gbps, as opposed to the USB 3.2 22 specification's maximum of 20 Gbps. Additionally, it is eight times faster than USB 3.0 and four times as fast as the far more prevalent USB 3.1 (3.2 gen) (3.2 gen. 1). Not all USB4 devices, however, will be able to transfer data at 40 Gbps; some device manufacturers may choose to use 20 Gbps instead. Although USB 3.1, which is normally the quickest USB port you can find, is twice as fast as 20 Gbps. Thunderbolt 3 and 4 and USB4 all have similar speeds, which is a key part of how the USB standard has grown and where it is going in the future.

USB4: Availability

A few USB4-powered products, including docking stations and high-speed cables, have been released since the USB4 specification was first introduced in March 2019. Although we are confident that the USB4 ecosystem will grow and flourish in the future, not many products are currently available that make use of the new technology. Of course, you'll need a computer that supports USB4 in order to use USB4 devices, and at the time, only some Intel-based laptop and desktop motherboards and newer Apple desktop and laptop models support USB4 technology. Some gadgets will mention Thunderbolt 4 but not USB 4 support. If a port supports Thunderbolt 4, it means that it is USB 4, but not all USB 4 ports are also Thunderbolt 4 ports.

Although USB4 is supported by Ryzen 6000 mobile APUs, the firmware and software aren't yet available. However, AMD has already released the first USB4 driver, so those changes are most likely on the way. Not every laptop powered by Ryzen 6000 will receive a USB4 upgrade because doing so requires the vendor to issue a BIOS update and the notebook to actually have physical USB4 connectors. Additionally, future Ryzen 7000 desktop CPUs will feature USB4.

USB4: Features

There is no longer any need to flip USB-A cables back and forth because USB4 is totally reversible and developed around the USB-C connector. In other words, USB4 is more than capable of powering your monitor or charging your laptop. It can also provide charging and a power supply of up to 100 watts. It can serve as a single cable for displays thanks to its strong data throughput and power delivery. Over a single connector, it can support either two 4K screens or one 5K display. Additionally, it provides sufficient data throughput to allow desktops and laptops to connect to external graphics cards. Devices using USB 3.x, 2.x, and 1.x are backward compatible with USB4. The wire connecting such devices may only need to be changed.

Greater uniformity could be one of USB4's greatest advances, even though it is not a feature in and of itself. The organization in charge of managing USB's promotion and marketing, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), intends to leverage the new USB generation to make the standard more consistent across devices. There won't be a large selection of possible cables or ports because USB-C is a single sort of connection. Additionally, the USB-IF will develop a list of required features for USB4 devices, which it will urge manufacturers to support. Although it won't be required, that will be a certification requirement. Since USB4 is an open standard, any manufacturer can use it any way they see fit.

The name USB4 is far more understandable than the incredibly perplexing naming practices of its predecessor, but it still needs refinement. For instance, many devices that support USB4 refer to their ports as Thunderbolt 4 rather than USB4, omitting the fact that Thunderbolt 4 ports are also USB4 ports. Thunderbolt 3, which is essentially a special version of USB with significantly higher bandwidth than the standard version, is the technology upon which USB4 is based. Because it offered direct access to four PCIe lanes, Thunderbolt 3 (which has since been replaced by Thunderbolt 4) was used in external SSDs, external GPUs, and docking stations. External NVMe SSDs and eGPUs would not have operated without such channels.

Though manufacturers are only permitted to supply two of those PCIe lanes at 20 Gbps, USB4 doesn't have to be as fast as Thunderbolt 3. As a result, Thunderbolt 3 device support isn't a given. Even if your PC has the greatest USB4 port imaginable, it still won't be quite as good as Thunderbolt 4 because USB4 lacks dual monitor compatibility. Currently, USB4 support does not ensure compatibility with top-tier Thunderbolt devices. This is not to say that USB4 is useless; rather, it only means that you must carefully examine the specifications to determine whether or not a computer that supports Thunderbolt but not USB4 may support a Thunderbolt-enabled device. Even if a Thunderbolt 3 device is compatible with a 20 Gbps USB4 port, the performance will be terrible.