Upcoming USB 3.2 Specification Will Double Data Rates Using Existing Cables

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group, comprising Apple, HP, Intel, Microsoft, and other companies, today introduced an upcoming USB 3.2 specification, which will eventually replace the existing USB 3.1 specification upon release.

An incremental update, USB 3.2 is designed to define multi-lane operation for USB 3.2 hosts and devices. USB Type-C cables already support multi-lane operation, and with USB 3.2, hosts and devices can be created as multi-lane solutions, allowing for either two lanes of 5Gb/s or two lanes of 10Gb/s operation.

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With support for two lanes of 10Gb/s transfer speeds, performance is essentially doubled over existing USB-C cables.

As an example, the USB Promoter Group says a USB 3.2 host connected to a USB 3.2 storage device will be capable of 2GB/sec data transfer performance over a USB-C cable certified for USB SuperSpeed 10Gb/s USB 3.1, while also remaining backwards compatible with earlier USB devices.

"When we introduced USB Type-C to the market, we intended to assure that USB Type-C cables and connectors certified for SuperSpeed USB or SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps would, as produced, support higher performance USB as newer generations of USB 3.0 were developed," said Brad Saunders, USB 3.0 Promoter Group Chairman. "The USB 3.2 update delivers the next level of performance."

Along with two-lane operation, USB 3.2 continues to use SuperSpeed USB layer data rates and encoding techniques and will introduce a minor update to hub specifications for seamless transitions between single and two-lane operation.

More information about USB 3.2 will be unveiled at USB Developer Days 2017 later this year.

Tags: USB 3.2, USB-C

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Top Rated Comments

Crisis Avatar
104 months ago
Meanwhile iPad Pro transfers at USB 2 speed to/from computers
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pallymore Avatar
104 months ago
Thunderbolt 3 is 40 Gb/s and uses USB-C cables. What is the purpose of making an inferior standard with the same equipment?
thunderbolt has hefty license fees, and it requires its own chip to work.
meanwhile, the U in the USB stands for UNIVERSAL.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
redheeler Avatar
104 months ago
People will still call Apple stupid for making the change to USB-C...
I find it stupid that a brand new 2017 MacBook Pro and iPhone 7 can't even be connected out of the box...
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SilianRail Avatar
104 months ago
Thunderbolt 3 is 40 Gb/s and uses USB-C cables. What is the purpose of making an inferior standard with the same equipment?
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
redscull Avatar
104 months ago
Forget all this fancy talk and number mumbo jumbo. Just tell me when transferring 10GB of pics/songs/etc from my iMac to my iPhone won't take 4 hours to sync.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
elistan Avatar
104 months ago
What? New capability over an old cable? How very un-Apple like. :p
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)