What Is USB-C? Here’s Why You Want USB Type-C

USB-C is the emerging standard for charging and transferring data. Right now, it’s included in devices like laptops, phones, and tablets and — given time — it’ll spread to pretty much everything that currently uses the older, larger USB connector.

USB-C is the emerging standard for charging and transferring data. Right now, it’s included in devices like laptops, phones, and tablets and — given time — it’ll spread to pretty much everything that currently uses the older, larger USB connector.

Table of Contents

What Is USB Type-C?
USB-C Features a New Connector Shape
USB-C, USB PD, and Power Delivery
USB-C, USB 4, and Transfer Rates
USB-C to DisplayPort
USB-C to HDMI
Is Thunderbolt the Same As USB-C?
Backward Compatibility
Check Your USB-C Cables and Ports

What Is USB Type-C?

USB Type-C, usually just called “USB-C,” is a new USB connector designed to better accommodate modern needs. It was designed with a huge number of improvements over previous USB cables (and ports). Here’s the quick list of everything new and improved:

• A new, compact connector that is fully reversible
• Supports higher power delivery
• Supports DisplayPort Alt Mode
• Up to four PCIe 4.0 lanes
• Audio transmission to replace 3.5mm audio jack
• Compatible with Thunderbolt
• Compatible with the latest USB standard (USB4 v2.0) and backward compatible with USB 2.0

Though the specifications for USB-C were first published in 2014, adoption has been gradual. USB-C is now shaping up to be a real replacement for not only older USB standards, but also other standards like Thunderbolt and DisplayPort. USB-C is closely intertwined with other new standards, as well — like USB 4 for faster speeds and USB Power Delivery for improved power delivery over USB connections.

USB-C Features a New Connector Shape

USB Type-C has a new, tiny physical connector — roughly the size of a micro-USB connector. The USB-C connector itself can support various exciting new USB standards like USB4 v2.0 and USB power delivery (USB PD).

The standard USB connector you’re most familiar with is USB Type-A. Even as we’ve moved from USB 1 to USB 2 and on to modern USB 3 devices, that connector has stayed the same. It’s as massive as ever, and it only plugs in one way (which is obviously never the way you try to plug it in the first time). But as devices became smaller and thinner, those massive USB ports just didn’t fit. This gave rise to lots of other USB connector shapes like the “micro” and “mini” connectors.

This awkward collection of differently shaped connectors for different-size devices is finally coming to a close. USB Type-C offers a new connector standard that’s very small. It’s about a third the size of an old USB Type-A plug. This is a single connector standard that every device should be able to use. You’ll just need a single cable, whether you’re connecting an external hard drive to your laptop or charging your smartphone from a USB charger. That one tiny connector is small enough to fit into a super-thin mobile device, but also powerful enough to connect all the peripherals you want to your laptop. The cable itself has USB Type-C connectors at both ends—it’s all one connector.

USB-C provides plenty to like. It’s reversible, so you’ll no longer have to flip the connector around a minimum of three times looking for the correct orientation. It’s a single USB connector shape that all devices should adopt, so you won’t have to keep loads of different USB cables with different connector shapes for your various devices. And you’ll have no more massive ports taking up an unnecessary amount of room on ever-thinner devices.

USB Type-C ports can also support a variety of different protocols using “alternate modes,” which allows you to have adapters that can output VGA, DisplayPort, or other types of connections from that single USB port. Apple’s USB-C Digital Multiport Adapter is a good example of this, offering an adapter that allows you to connect an HDMI, VGA, larger USB Type-A connectors, and smaller USB Type-C connector via a single port. The mess of USB, HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA, and power ports on typical laptops can be streamlined into a single type of port.

USB-C, USB PD, and Power Delivery

The USB PD specification is also closely intertwined with USB Type-C. A USB 2.0 connection provides up to 2.5 watts of power—enough to charge your phone or tablet, but that’s about it. The USB PD specification v3.1 supported by USB-C ups this power delivery to an enormous 240 watts. It’s bi-directional, so a device can either send or receive power. And this power can be transferred at the same time the device is transmitting data across the connection. This kind of power delivery could even let you charge a laptop, which usually requires up to about 60 watts.

Apple’s MacBook Air and Google’s Chromebook Pixel both use their USB-C ports as their charging ports. USB-C could spell the end of all those proprietary laptop charging cables, with everything charging via a standard USB connection. You could even charge your laptop from one of those portable battery packs you charge your smartphones and other portable devices from today. You could plug your laptop into an external display connected to a power cable, and that external display would charge your laptop as you used it as an external display — all via the one little USB Type-C connection.

There is one catch, though — at least at the moment. Just because a device or cable supports USB-C does necessarily mean it also supports USB PD. So, you’ll need to make sure that the devices and cables you buy support both USB-C and USB PD.