USB-C interface support 240W power supply, it wil

Edit by:P&A Tech Product Deparment  . Date:2021/7/15

 USB-C interface support 240W power supply, it will reign supreme?

The emergence of the new USB 4 standard has numerous advantages over previous versions of USB, notably the maximum transfer speed has reached 40 Gbps: by using two-lane cables, devices are able to run at 40gbps, the same speed as Thunderbolt 3. Data can be transmitted in two groups of four bi-directional channels, high bandwidth data transmission has pushed the USB C interface to the edge of the throne, and the latest USB-C interface began to support 240W power supply, and from the charging part to support its position, with the dual status of signal and charging, the market expects it will soon reign over the consumer electronics industry, in August, the Shenzhen ICH exhibition site will have a large number of USB C supporting supply chain products on display.

Data transmission technology leading the industry

USB 4 two speeds (Intel announced USB4 interface connector, divided into two versions)

Although it can reach a theoretical speed of 40 Gbps, not all USB devices or hosts support this standard. Smaller, cheaper devices, such as phones and chromebooks, are expected to use the 20 Gbps version of USB 4, which is still much faster than USB 3. Today you can get a 5 Gbps connection from most laptops (although 10 Gbps and 20 Gbps USB 3.2 connections exist).

Excellent at sharing bandwidth between video and data (USB 4 specification interpretation compilation)

A large part of the USB 4 specification is the protocol channel, which allows you to dynamically adjust the amount of resources available when sending video and data over the same connection. So let's say you have USB 4 at a maximum of 40 Gbps and are copying a large number of files from an external SSD while outputting to a 4K display. Let's stipulate that the video source requires approximately 12.5 Gbps, in which case USB 4 will allocate the remaining 27.5 Mbps to your backup drive.

USB-C introduces "alternative mode", the ability to transfer DisplayPort / HDMI video from Type-C ports, but the current 3.x specification does not provide a good way to split resources. According to Saunders, DisplayPort alternative mode can split the bandwidth between USB data and video data exactly 50/50, while HDMI alternative mode does not allow simultaneous transmission of USB data at all. However, with protocol channel transfers, USB 4 can send DisplayPort, PCIe or USB as packets, so it can control resource allocation.

"With USB SuperSpeed, we didn't have enough architectural flexibility to really manage these two different bandwidths (data and video) in a combined fashion on the connector," Saunders said, "whereas with the new technology, it optimizes the scalability between different applications. Scalability between applications.

PD charging technology leads the industry

Now the maximum charging power supported by USB-C is only 100W for the time being, and 100W is obviously not enough for some devices that require high power supply, so the USB-IF (USB Developers Forum), which promotes the USB-C interface, has released a new revision of the USB-C specification 2.1 on its website. To put it bluntly, it is still a revision, or upgrade, in terms of connectivity, interactivity, and supported hardware. The most important thing is that the previous 100W power limit has been raised to 240W in one fell swoop, still using the PD protocol. (The new version of the USB-C specification descends: support up to 240W power, the need to upgrade the cable); 240W power cap to improve, may not be faster than before to unify the manufacturers of fast charging standards, may be ultra-high power can really expand the use of USB-C PD scenarios.

Previously, USB-C PD for mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets or thin and light notebooks, while 240W extended power extends the range to some large devices, such as 4K monitors, professional printers, and even DIY devices for some PCs in the future.

From the current trend, Apple, Intel, Microsoft and other giants are members of the USB-IF Developers Forum, and their products are sparing no effort to promote the USB-C interface form factor and PD fast charging protocol.

The emergence of USB-C PD 3.0 PPS is also deliberately compatible with different fast charging solutions on the market, and the conditions for "unification" are almost ripe, but the rest still depends on the follow-up of manufacturers. It is undeniable that whether manufacturers continue to follow up, there will be market, strategy, cost and other considerations, after all, "fast charging" is now a major product "track", are working towards greater and faster direction, constantly revised PD (including PPS) is not the best choice on their way to technological breakthroughs. But on the other hand, when manufacturers implement their own private fast charging protocols, original accessories to be compatible with the public PD 3.0 (PPS) fast charging may be more meaningful to us than shouting "environmental protection", and at the same time, the original charger will also have a broader scope of application. Just as the popularization of Micro USB was led by GSM and the European Union on the way to universalization, what is still missing today is an "east wind" to unify the fast charging experience. Don't miss out on GaN technology, Xiaomi and P&A's 65W GaN charger comes standard across the lineup.

Under the double boost, USB C accelerates the unification of the jungle?

Currently on the market all kinds of charging interface is not uniform, low efficiency, single function, low plasticity, bring a lot of tedium to life, these years, Type-C development speed is far faster than we thought, now laptops, smart phones, smart watches and so on have all entered the faster Type-C era, Type-C trend of unification of the jungle temporarily can not see the rival, with 240W With the addition of 240W power supply, it has been possible to achieve faster charging speed, higher transmission protocol, the next can be the current because of the different understanding of brands, protocols and settings, adapter correlation to improve, a line to go to the world era, the next can be the next.

The next step will be to improve the current understanding of different brands, protocols and settings, adapters, the era of one line to go, usually often on business trips always do not have to bring a lot of charging heads and data lines for light travel.