USB promotion organization USB-IF announced on September 1 that it plans to release the new USB4 2.0 specification at USB DecDays in November, while previewing some of the functional features of USB4 2.0, including doubling the bandwidth to 80Gbps, higher charging power, and an updated DisplayPort protocol.
The new USB4 2.0 standard also retains its usual excellent backward compatibility with USB4, Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.x, USB 2.0 and even earlier protocols.
Thanks to the integration of the Thunderbolt 3 protocol, the USB4 standard has been able to achieve 40Gbps transfer rates through the Type-C interface. While the USB-IF by integrating Thunderbolt 3 protocol, the naming of USB4 is much simpler, coupled with the USB-IF mandatory manufacturers to mark the transmission rate on the cable interface, so that users can more intuitively see the cable, and interface rate.
From USB 1.0, 1.1 (12Mbps), USB 2.0 Full (12Mbps), High Speed (480Mbps), USB 3 (the most confusing) to USB4 (cancel the space), but USB4 still seems to be unable to get rid of the problem of naming confusion, and it is difficult for ordinary consumers to distinguish between the generations of change. And USB4 2.0 directly makes the originally named simple USB4 complex again.
The updated USB4 version 2.0 specification doubles data transfer performance and provides higher performance support for the USB Type-C ecosystem. The new protocol will support higher-performance USB 3.2, DisplayPort (2.0), and PCI Express (PCIe) data channels and take full advantage of higher available bandwidth. Higher bandwidth rates can be provided for high-performance displays (DP 2.0, USB4 2.0), storage, hubs/docking stations, and other devices.
Thanks to a new physical layer architecture, USB4 2.0 is able to support not only 80Gbps transfer rates but also enable passive USB-C cables to support 40Gbps rates. The protocol updates both the data and display protocols to better utilize the 80Gbps bandwidth, allowing USB 3.2 data channels to exceed 20Gbps, adding support for the latest DisplayPort (2.0) and PCIe (5.0) specifications.
The USB4 2.0 protocol specification is based on the USB4 extension, which is intended to be compatible with the upcoming DisplayPort 2.0 (80Gbps) and add support for higher-level PCIe channels. Just USB-IF protocol naming is indeed very “confusing”, simple USB4 plus the 2.0 suffix, so that the protocol name becomes long again so that the user here into the confusion.
