Well Known USB Connectors Set to Be Replaced By USB Type-C
Posted on April 25, 2016 | By Stephen
For years now the USB connection (Universal Serial Bus) has been part of computers, devices and peripherals. There has been an USB Type-B connector to connect “USB Type-A to USB Type-B” from a computer to a printer, which has slowly been been phased out over time in favour “USB Type-A to USB Type-A” male to male set of connections in either side of a USB cable.
There have also been enhancements for micro USB connectors to connect a mobile device to a computer; for transferring files or charging a mobile device. Not to mention the many other external devices that may use a micro USB to connect to a computer (Micro USB on one end of the cable and USB Type-A on the other end).
Now various companies such as Apple, Dell, Google, etc… have started to build the new USB Type-C connection into their devices. The connector can be plugged in upside down or right way up; basically eliminating the confusion over whether the connection is the right way up when trying to plug it in.
USB Type-C is thinner and smaller, therefore it can be used on mobile devices for an bidirectional “USB Type-C to USB Type-C” male connection on both sides of a USB cable. Data transfer will also be much faster and at 20 volts it is able to transfer data at 10gigabits a second, as opposed to USB Type-A at 5 volts and maxed out at 5gigabits a second data transfer rate.
What this means is that all of the USB Type-A, USB Type-B (male and female), and Micro USB connectors will eventually be replaced with the new USB Type-C connector (will also be adaptable with adapters for HDMI, VGA, DVI adapters), which is far more universal that the other USB versions; users with other devices that don’t have the newer USB Type-C connections will have to buy adapters, which are currently overpriced (they will go down in time as demand increases).
Currently USB Type-C is coming out on MAC computing devices, but slowly will make it way out to other devices and over the next 5 years the many different connector variations of USB prior to USB Type-C will fade away with time and the new connection type will be the only USB cable needed.