SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps (USB 3.1) from the USB-IF

Have you seen the new USB 3.1 'SuperSpeed' cables yet? Finally, both ends of the cable can be identical ('Type-C') so you don't need to have a special adapter to connect between dissimilar types. Another bonus is that there is no 'up' and 'down' orientation because the pinouts are symmetrical. In an apparent violation of the law of averages there seems to be a much greater than 50% probability of attempting to plug existing USB connectors in upside down on the first attempt - for either end. To make matters worse, I have mistakenly plugged the squarish end of the peripheral device end into the telephone jack hole of a printer where the metal shield can short out the telephone connector contacts.

As if an agnostic connector isn't enough to wow you, a new mode enables transfer speeds up to 10 Gbps, and the software standard is compatible back to USB 2.0. USB 3.1 can also deliver up to 100 W of power (a 10x increase over USB 3.0) to a peripheral device, which per Ohm's law translates to 20 A at the 5 V bus specification, but I can only find 900 mA in the specification. It's got to be in there somewhere, though, because all the news reports say so, including this USB.org 3.1 release. This USB Power Delivery spec mentions that the VBus voltage will be 20 V @ 5 A for high power suppply.

According to industry sources, the new Apple MacBook will be the first product to incorporate the new standard.

Posted on  March 30, 2015