Differences Between USB2.0, USB3.0,USB3.1 and Type-C Ports

Briefly Speaking:

• Usb3.0 is faster than 2.0 transmission rate, fast charging, and down compatible with 2.0
• Usb3.1 typically refers to usb3.1 gen2, which is faster than 3.0, faster to charge, and compatible
• Type-c usually refers to an interface shape of usb3.1, there are three classes of USB 3.1 in total for USB. and Type c is the third. So USB C 3.1 also called Type-c 3.1.

Let’s look at USB 2.0 first.

USB 2.0

• The theoretical transmission rate is 480Mbps, or 60MB/s
• Four pins
• The maximum allowable standard for power supply is 5V/0.5A

USB 3.0

• Using the 8/10b encoding method, the 8-bit data is encoded into 10 bits to send, that is, 500MB/s
• 9 pins, four of which are positioned in the same position as usb2.0, which is why they are compatible with usb2.0
• The maximum allowable standard for power supply is 5V/0.9A. Of cousre, in some situation, the Maximum current can be reach 1.5A.

There are some meothods to distinguish USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.

• In principle, the usb 3.0 intermediate plastic sheet is blue, while the usb 2.0 intermediate plastic sheet is black or white, but there is no regulation.
• Usb3.0 device socket appearance compared to usb2.0 out of the “SS” logo, representing SuperSpeed, but there is no absolute limit

USB 3.1

usb3.1 is not like 2.0, 3.0 is even the technical standard is the actual socket, usb3.1 is just a standard, does not represent the actual socket.

The USB 3.1 includes two technical standards: usb3.1 gen1 and usb3.1 gen2.

It also includes three interface standards: Type-A (Standard-A), Type-B (Micro-B), and Type-C.

Let’s introduce the two technical standards are introduced first.

• usb3.1 gen1: The technical standard is basically the same as usb3.0, and there is no great improvement (can be considered as 3.0).
• usb3.1 gen2: is the real usb3.1. We usually mean usb3.1, which means usb3.1 gen2.

USB3.1 gen2:

The following is a description of the technical standards of gen2:

• The theoretical transmission rate is increased to 10.0Gbps
• Using 128b/132b encoding, in 132bit data, only 4bits are used as the check code, and the coding loss decreases to about 3% (4/132) compared to 20% (2/10) of usb3.0, or about 1.21GB/s.
• The maximum allowable standard for power supply is 20V/5A.
• New USB A/V 3.1 audio and video transmission specifications.
• The label was updated from “SuperSpeed” in 3.0 to “SuperSpeed”.

The three interface standards, From left to right are type-a, b, c.

(See picture as below:)

• type-a: Type-a similar to the shape of ordinary USB interface peripherals, external devices such as printers, monitors usually use the type-a interface.
• type-b: Tpe-b has two subdivision shapes: Mini USB and Micro USB, both of which have their own A and B shapes (messy), and mainly uses peripheral shapes to solve the problem-proof insertion (unlike traditional rectangles, it is approximately trapezoidal or edge missing angles for easy identification of positive and negative).
• type-c: Generally speaking, we refer to type-c as “type-c interface with usb3.1 gen2 technical standards” with the same specifications as usb3.1 gen2. At the same time, there is an advantage: will not interpolate! (Up and down two rows, pin design center symmetry)

Additionally, Type-c implementation usb3.1 is not a mandatory specification, there is no provision to say that the use of type-c mouth must be usb3.1, nor does it provide that the use of usb3.1 must use type-c.

It is possible to have a type-c interface on the market, but the transmission speed does not reach usb3.1, maybe they are usb 3.0 type-c.

The real USB Type-C 3.1 High Speed Data Cable usually has a PCB with IC chips on it as the pictures show as below. And its high soldering techniques with pecision temperature, the hot bar data cable soldering machine can solve the problem.