With USB4 2.20, a new USB standard will be launched in November this year. USB4 2.0 offers doubled transfer speeds – and confusion.
80 Gbit per second
The latest USB version is said to double transfer speeds via USB-C ports to up to 80 Gbit per second. New cables are not necessary for this: Passive USB-C cables, which could previously transfer data at a speed of up to 40 Gbit per second, should also be able to be used. However, new controllers in the devices will be needed. Especially the tunneling of other USB signals via the new USB4-2.0 controllers should result in speed advantages. Furthermore, the current DisplayPort and PCI Express standards DisplayPort 2.0 and PCIe 5.0 should be supported.
Anger over naming
In the professional public, anger about the naming is mixed in with the joy about the higher transfer rates. There have been several complaints that the name USB4 2.0 is too similar to the existing USB 2.0 variant, which invites confusion. In addition, there is anger about the fact that the standard designation does not include a reference to the fulfilled speed level. There are supposed to be certifications for 20, 40 and 80 Gbit/s fast USB4-2.0 ports – so the technical maximum will not be exhausted in every case. Which speed is actually possible can only be found out by looking at the data sheet, but not by the pure version designation.
