What are the differences in speed between USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB 3.1, and Thunderbolt 3?
- The data transfer rate of USB 2.0 (Hi-Speed) is 480Mbit/s (roughly 40MByte/s). USB 2.0 Type A (computer side), with a white plastic interface fixed terminal, is one type of connector; USB 2.0 Type B (typically found on printers, scanners, etc.), Mini 5pin (MP3, card reader, toy, POS, etc.), and Micro B (also used in such devices) are others ( Android phone, charging treasure, speaker, Bluetooth headset, camera, driving recorder, etc.)
- USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed) offers 5Gbit/s (effectively 300 MByte/s), which is a significant improvement over the previous USB 2.0 standard. USB 3.0 Type A (computer side), with a blue plastic connector interface fixed terminal; USB 3.0 Type B (used for high-speed printers, scanners, electronic guitars, etc.); USB 3.0 Micro B (Android phones, mobile hard drives, cameras, industrial cameras, etc.); and 20Pin (computer front panel and rear panel PCI-E baffle, connected to the motherboard via 20PIN)3
- While transfer rates have remained unchanged since USB 3.1 Gen 1’s introduction of the TYPE C connector, charging times should be reduced thanks to USB 3.1 Gen 1’s increase in power standards from 5V/0.9A to 20V/5A and 100W. Faster phone charging is the most common use. The USB A/V video and audio transmission added by USB 3.1 allows laptops to serve as video projectors. The current crop of TYPE C interface devices is almost exclusively Gen 1 compliant.
- USB 3.1 Gen 2 (SuperSpeed+) provides 10Gbit/s (effectively 900 MByte/s) and typically includes a USB Type C connector, though it may also include USB 3.0 connectors. The impressive performance of 10Gbps transmission rate, 800M/s, and 4K@60Hz is only possible with a cable, input, and output that all conform to the USB 3.1 Gen 2 standard.
- Thunderbolt 3 is a superset of USB 3.1 Gen 2, has a USB Type C plug, and provides 40Gbit/s of throughput when operating in native TB3 mode. It’s a better alternative to the standard display port, and it works with USB 3.1 Gen 2. As an additional stipulation, ultra-high speed data transmission is only possible when the input, cable, and output all conform to the thunderbolt 3 standard. This is typically employed in fields like video production, large video games, high-speed disk storage, and so on.