Definition of USB

What is USB?

Universal Serial Bus, abbreviated as USB, is a computing and technology standard for cables and connectors that enable communication and power supply between computers and peripherals such as external hard disk drives (HDD), cameras, printers, gaming consoles and controllers, keyboards, mice, and more. As stated, USB cables can be used to enable communication between devices such as a printer and a computer, or power devices, such as wireless gaming controllers, wireless keyboards, or wireless mice.

There are different versions of USB standards and types that provide different features more so on data transfer speeds and power ratings.

USB Standards

USB 1.0

1. Data transfer speed of 1.56 Megabits per Second (Mbits/S)

2. Power transfer of 100mA

3. Found in USB Type A and USB Type B cables

4. The cable receptacle has a white ridge

USB 2.0

1. Introduced in 2001

2. Supports up to 480 Mbps (Mbits/S)

3. The cable receptacle has a black ridge

4. Still widely used today

5. Found in Type A, Type B, and Type C, all Mini and micro connectors cables

USB 3.0

1. Released in 2008

2. Introduced the SuperSpeed (SS) type, which supports up to 5 Gbps (Gigabits per second)

3. Power transfer rate of up to 900mA

4. Available in Type A, Type B, Type C, Micro-A, Micro-B, and Micro-AB USB connectors

5. The cable receptacle has a blue ridge

USB 3.1

1. Released in 2013

2. Introduced the USB SuperSpeed+ (SS+) type, which featured a data transfer speed of 10 Gbps (Gigabits per second)

3. Power transfer rate of up to 1.5A

4. Available in Type A, Type B, Type C, Micro-A, Micro-B, and Micro-AB USB connectors

USB 3.2

1. Introduced in 2017

2. Data transfer speed of 20 Gbps

3. Power transfer rate of up to 5A

4. Available in Type C USB connectors

USB4

1. Introduced in 2019

2. Developed by Intel Corp

3. Data transfer speed of 40 Gbps

4. Power transfer rate of up to 5A