New USB 4 is enhanced Thunderbolt 3 with advanced connection bandwidth sharing
USB 4, the next version of the connectivity protocol, is said by the USB Promoter Group to offer computer users a throughput of up to 40Gbps and other features of Thunderbolt 3, following the contribution of the Thunderbolt protocol specification to the group by Intel.
A USB Type-C cable is used to connect to MacBooks.
A future generation of USB, the USB Promoter Group revealed the release of the USB 4 specification is on the way, and would effectively offer all of the benefits of Thunderbolt 3. While the implementation of USB 4 by vendors may be a long time away from happening, the draft specification itself is expected to be published later in 2019.
The specification is largely expected to cover most, if not all, of what is currently capable under Thunderbolt 3, as chip producer Intel has contributed Thunderbolt 3 to the group. The provision will effectively make it easier for vendors to produce devices using the technology at a cheaper rate than at present, and possibly without any of the current confusion of USB and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity due to using the same USB Type-C connector.
The benefits of USB 4 will be largely consistent with Thunderbolt 3, including a throughput of up to 40Gbps, and may include elements such as power deliver of up to 100W, allowing notebooks to be charged over the same connection as driving 4K and 5K displays. The spec will offer backwards compatibility with earlier USB standards, including USB 3.2 and USB 2.0, as well as Thunderbolt 3 itself.
Intel has planned to offer Thunderbolt 3 as a royalty-free standard to manufactures for some time, with Monday's announcement being a culmination of that work.
"Releasing the Thunderbolt protocol specification is a significant milestone for making today's simplest and most versatile port available to everyone," said Jason Ziller, General Manager, Client Connectivity Division at Intel. "By collaborating with the USB Promoter Group, we're opening the doors for innovation across a wide range of devices and increasing compatibility to deliver better experiences to consumers."
While Apple is already an adopter of Thunderbolt 3, the change will help with the creation of more accessories that will work at the higher connection speeds and have support for the standard, in part due to it becoming more widely available. Indeed, Intel's integration of Thunderbolt 3 into future processors, including "Ice Lake" chips announced earlier this year, will help further that support.
USB 4 would follow after the impending availability of USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, which recently underwent a somewhat confusing name change. That specification will be an upgrade from USB 3.1, now known as USB 3.2 Gen 2, doubling the bandwidth from 10Gbps to 20Gbps.
A USB Type-C cable is used to connect to MacBooks.
A future generation of USB, the USB Promoter Group revealed the release of the USB 4 specification is on the way, and would effectively offer all of the benefits of Thunderbolt 3. While the implementation of USB 4 by vendors may be a long time away from happening, the draft specification itself is expected to be published later in 2019.
The specification is largely expected to cover most, if not all, of what is currently capable under Thunderbolt 3, as chip producer Intel has contributed Thunderbolt 3 to the group. The provision will effectively make it easier for vendors to produce devices using the technology at a cheaper rate than at present, and possibly without any of the current confusion of USB and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity due to using the same USB Type-C connector.
The benefits of USB 4 will be largely consistent with Thunderbolt 3, including a throughput of up to 40Gbps, and may include elements such as power deliver of up to 100W, allowing notebooks to be charged over the same connection as driving 4K and 5K displays. The spec will offer backwards compatibility with earlier USB standards, including USB 3.2 and USB 2.0, as well as Thunderbolt 3 itself.
Intel has planned to offer Thunderbolt 3 as a royalty-free standard to manufactures for some time, with Monday's announcement being a culmination of that work.
"Releasing the Thunderbolt protocol specification is a significant milestone for making today's simplest and most versatile port available to everyone," said Jason Ziller, General Manager, Client Connectivity Division at Intel. "By collaborating with the USB Promoter Group, we're opening the doors for innovation across a wide range of devices and increasing compatibility to deliver better experiences to consumers."
While Apple is already an adopter of Thunderbolt 3, the change will help with the creation of more accessories that will work at the higher connection speeds and have support for the standard, in part due to it becoming more widely available. Indeed, Intel's integration of Thunderbolt 3 into future processors, including "Ice Lake" chips announced earlier this year, will help further that support.
USB 4 would follow after the impending availability of USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, which recently underwent a somewhat confusing name change. That specification will be an upgrade from USB 3.1, now known as USB 3.2 Gen 2, doubling the bandwidth from 10Gbps to 20Gbps.
Comments
I think in either case we're talking niche scenarios though. If people are daisy chaining devices at all they're likely only chaining up 2 or 3.
More important than performance enhancements, IMO, would be fixing the inherit insecurity of USB. Building crypto into the standard, or whatever is necessary… I think they missed a huge opportunity by not making that part of USB-C, where you'd know a device is trustworthy simply by what kind of plug it uses.
https://www.wired.com/2014/07/usb-security/
I think it was more due to the licensing fees Intel charged for Thunderbolt patents (And those Apple charged for FireWire) that contributed more to the cost. With Intel providing TB3 to the USB 4 spec, those costs go away.
There may be a slight cost difference between the Master/Slave and Peering, but those probably amount to fractions of a cent per unit, as opposed to dollars per unit (or whatever the licence currently costs).
It's also quite likely they'll implement both to provide compatibility with both earlier USB and ThunderBolt implementations. Which could lead to even more confusion around which cables work with which combination of devices working in which mode. But the USB-IF have never done anything confusing in the past...
So no news then on whether USB gets daisy chaining from thunderbolt. That would be nice, but it has never been the case to date, and part of the excuse for why FireWire was “so expensive” was that the chipset needed inside each device to support the bus was more expensive than USB.
Yeah, USB mandates hubs (ridiculously; I have three on one computer). FireWire does not have hubs, but it does allow a repeater to be added to a chain, giving you an extra two ports (though I don’t know if this is in the spec and some devices reportedly don’t like them). These devices are rare and expensive and I have many times sought them out but yet to actually pull the trigger on paying for one.
It has always annoyed me that a lot of FireWire product makers have cheaped out on a second FireWire port, killing any potential of daisy chaining from their devices (looking at you, M-Audio). I haven’t yet owned a single thunderbolt device (except an iMac 12,2), so I don’t know if product makers have been doing the same cheapass thing with thunderbolt ports too. IMO, a product shouldn’t even be certified for the format logo if it breaks daisy chaining. It should be mandatory to allow the bus to continue through any device using it.
It really depends on what those devices are doing at any given time. If most of them are mostly inactive, their bus activity is likely minimal.
Interesting. I’m actually surprised by that low number.