author: Conrad Hazi
USB 3.2 Announced - It Will Absorb USB Standards 3.0 and 3.1
With the announcement of the full USB 3.2 specification at MWC2019 Expo, the names of older versions of this standard have changed once again. USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 will also belong to the USB 3.2 family.
The saga with the renaming of the latest USB 3.x standard continues. Some time ago USB 3.0 was renamed USB 3.1 Gen 1, but this is not the end and the USB 3.2 standard, announced by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) at MWC2019, will take over the specifications of older USB 3.0 and USB 3.1.
What is happening here?
From now on, USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 are to be treated as previous generations of USB 3.2. What are the results of this? USB 3.1 Gen 1 (initially known as USB 3.0), offering up to 5 Gbps, will be renamed USB 3.2 Gen 1, while USB 3.1 Gen 2, at up to 10 Gbps of speed, will now be called USB 3.2 Gen 2. Meanwhile, the latest specification will offer twice the speed - up to 20 Gbps, so it has been named USB 3.2 2x2.
To achieve data transfer rate of 20 Gbps, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 will be based on two channels with a speed of 10 Gbps each. Conventional devices and hosts, however, only have a single data line, so with the help comes USB Type-C, which supports multi-line transmission. This will be the only way to take advantage of the benefits of USB 3.2 Gen 2x2.
Marketing also plays a very important role in promoting new standards. In order to avoid technical complexities, USB-IF also proposed trade names for all standards - SuperSpeed USB, SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps and SuperSpeed USB 20 Gbps.
It is not yet known when the first devices supporting the latest generation of USB 3.2 will reach the market. There is not even any certainty that this will happen this year.