All you need to know about USB 3.1, the USB Type-C connector, and USB Power Delivery

Few are the innovation principles as omnipresent as Universal Serial Bus, normally known as USB. For right around two decades, it has been making an incredible showing with interfacing our contraptions with each other, permitting them to exchange information forward and backward at quick, and some of the time truly quick, speeds. Be that as it may, in spite of the standard's notoriety, the general gathering of people doesn't appear to be altogether acquainted with its most recent determinations. All things considered, we're here to amend that. Here's everything you need to think about USB 3.1, USB Type-C, and USB Power Delivery.

USB 3.1 and USB Type-C are not the same thing
We've noticed that the terms USB 3.1 and USB Type-C are sometimes used interchangeably, which leads us to believe that the difference between the two isn't clear enough. Simply put, USB is the industry standard and 3.1 is its revision number. It is a technology, not a physical thing. Type-C, however, is just a new type of connector. It is comprised of a Type-C plug and a Type-C receptacle.

It is important to know that while USB Type-C is designed to carry USB 3.1 signals, a device employing the connector is not necessarily compliant with USB 3.1. The Nokia N1 tablet, for example, is a USB 2.0 device even though it uses the Type-C connector. Same goes for the OnePlus 2 smartphone. At the same time, it is possible for a device to use a USB 3.0 Type-A connector – that sexy blue one you find on modern laptops and desktop computers – and still be USB 3.1-compatible.

So, what's the point? Why are there devices using USB Type-C even though they're not USB 3.1-compatible? The answer is simple – convenience.

USB Type-C is reversible, durable, with a small footprint
We've all used USB cables and USB drives. We all know the frustration of it not fitting because we tried to plug it in the wrong way. USB Type-C, however, takes care of that inconvenience by being reversible. In other words, you can plug in a Type-C plug into a Type-C port either way and it will still work regardless of the type of USB connection – 3.1, 3.0, or 2.0.

USB Type-C is a reversible connector

All this plugging in and out will not wear out the connector easily. Type-C is designed to endure through no less than 10,000 insertion/extraction cycles, which puts it on par with today's Micro USB connectors. No less importantly, USB Type-C is made to occupy very little space on a circuit board. This is great news for hardware designers as they'll have more precious room inside the electronic devices they build.

Type-C will dominate among USB connectors
What we went over in the past section were only a portion of the numerous focal points of USB Type-C over existing USB connectors. Notwithstanding those, the new fitting and repository can convey up to a USB 3.1 association, transmit DisplayPort signals at up to 4K determination, and handle up to 100W of electrical force, all in the meantime. The length of every single specialized prerequisite are met, obviously. Being the actually unrivaled and future-evidence connector that it is, USB Type-C is liable to wind up predominant among USB connectors.

The Type-C port on a Chromebook Pixel

Some devices are already riding this wave of change. The newest Apple MacBook has a single Type-C port, which is used for charging, data transfer, and video output. Google's newest Chromebook Pixel features two of the ports, both with the same capabilities. Note that neither of the two computers needs a dedicated power connector as their batteries are charged via USB (more on that in a bit).

On the downside, the transition to USB Type-C will render the tons of existing USB cables useless as they're physically incompatible with the new connector. You can't insert a Type-A or a Micro USB plug into a Type-C receptacle. But embracing the future is better than resisting it, and we imagine a future where the superior Type-C connector dominates USB-enabled devices.

Speaking of the new connector, here are some of the USB Type-C cables that have already been announced by accessory manufacturer Belkin.

1. Type-C to Type-C - one cable to connect all USB devices of the future
2. Type-C to Type-A - to connect Type-C mobile devices with computers relying on a Type-A connector
3. Type-C to Micro USB - to connect Micro USB mobile devices to computers with Type-C ports only

USB 3.1 is faster. Much faster
We've officially secured USB Type-C in point of interest, and now the time has come to concentrate on USB 3.1. In any case, initial, a touch of history. The standard's first business particular had a greatest information rate of 12 megabits for each second, which was sufficient for clients' necessities at the time. Be that as it may, in the end, as peripherals' interest for transfer speed developed, the pace furthest reaches of USB 1.x turned into a reasonable bottleneck. USB 2.0 acquired a huge build information rates by topping at 480Mbps. USB 3.0 knock as far as possible to 5 gigabits for every second, and now, USB 3.1 brags a 10Gbps most extreme information rate. Genuine specialized exhibits have demonstrated USB 3.1 coming to 7.2Gbps, which is really quick, regardless of what you look like at it.

To the extent cell phones and tablets are concerned, information won't be moving very as quick, in spite of the fact that it won't be exchanged gradually either. How about we say that you plug a USB 3.1-good cell phone to a USB 3.1-perfect PC. When you begin duplicating documents, information will be moving just as quick as the weakest connection in the association can deal with it. That would more often than not be your PC's capacity drive or your telephone's capacity chip. Under perfect conditions, you may have the capacity to get figures in the domain of 150 to 300 megabytes for each second, which is just inside of 30% of what USB 3.1 can deal with, yet really quick.

USB Power Delivery: how do 100 watts sound like?

At the time of its conception, USB was expected to be a vessel for carrying data, not power. That's why USB 1.x and USB 2.0 were capped at a humble 2.5 watts (0.5 amps at 5 volts) – enough to charge a compatible cell phone, but not always sufficient to power something bigger, such as an external hard drive. Then came USB 3.0 and bumped the output to 4.5 watts (0.9 amps at 5 volts). That's a much more acceptable figure, but today's mobile gadgets can easily take at least twice as much juice when charging up their batteries. Thankfully, the USB folks have developed something to address the situation. It is called USB Power Delivery.

USB Power Delivery co-exists with current USB 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, and USB Type-C specifications. It is a different thing, however. USB PD specifies five power delivery profiles – up to 100 watts in scale – applicable over a USB connection while data is being transferred. Technically, there's six of these profiles, but the so-called Profile 0 is "reserved" and doesn't do much at this time. So, here are the five that matter:
Profile 1 - 5V @ 2A, 10W (Default start-up profile)
Profile 2 - 12V @ 1.5A, 18W
Profile 3 - 12V @ 3A, 36W
Profile 4 - 20V @ 3A, 60W
Profile 5 - 20V @ 5A, 100W