Universal Serial Bus (USB) is one of the most crucial electronic devices nowadays, with almost all electronic devices like laptops, Desktop Computers, and Smartphones having USB ports.
We can connect any peripheral device through USB ports. The USB ports make transferring data and extending your system specs very easy.
For example, you can connect a USB broadband, USB Network Adapter, and USB Pendrive, you can now charge your device using the USB ports, you can attach a Mouse to a Laptop/PC, or a Keyboard.
USB is still in development with each new version. The capabilities of the USB is still changing drastically with each new version. If you notice modern smartphones and laptops, then you will see that almost every device is shipped with the USB-C port these days.
Manufacturers are slowly transforming their devices by removing old USB supports and adding support for USB-C. Now, what is USB-C, and why are manufacturers replacing USB-C with older USB ports? What advantages does it give you over the older version of USB? And why should you use USB-C? We will briefly discuss all these topics here in this article, so once you have read the article completely, you will ultimately know What USB-C is.
What is USB Type-C?
The first thing you will probably notice about USB Type-C is that the connector, the male pin of USB-C, is much smaller in size than the old versions of USB like USB Type-A and the shape is not the usual rectangle shape.
The pin of the USB-Type-C has an oblong shape, first introduced in 2014, it is only recently that USB-C has gained some popularity due to its advantages. Hence, manufacturers are making USB-C a new standard in every device.
USB-C has no potential to replace other USB types. Still, it is also a very great replacement for a 3.5mm headphone jack, Thunderbolt, and DisplayPort.
Using USB-C is frustration-free because the design of the USB-C plug is symmetrical, so however you plug it, it will just work.
Like older versions of USB Plugs, you won't have to find the upside or the downside of the USB to plug it into the USB port in case of USB-C. Also, thanks to USB Type-C, now we will never see massive ports in any of our devices.
High-Speed Charging and Data Transfer
USB Type-C not only has a better design, but it also has excellent functionality, that's why you can use USB Type-C both to charge your Laptop or phone or to transfer data at super high speed. A tiny little USB, which can both charge your devices very fast and transfer data from any external device at high speed, makes sense why manufacturers want USB Type-C to be the new standard.
Bi-directional Data Flow
Even more, USB Type-C is bi-directional, which means you can use USB-C to transfer power from one device to another, which could be helpful in some cases. For example, if you want to charge your phone quickly from your Laptop, it is a great option. Even more, USB-C is the best and reliable option if you're going to dock your Smartphone or Laptop to your PC.
With Data transferring at High Speed, nearly 10Gbps, you can easily use your phone as a PC. Also, USB-C will have no problem in handling terabytes of data transferring.
USB Type-C Compatibility
Since USB Type-C has a different Plug design and size than the rest of the USB versions, you would think that it's not compatible with other devices. Well, you won't be able to insert the USB-C plug in any older USB ports. However, there is a way in which you can use USB-C in older USB ports. This compatibility exists because not every device has USB-C ports. Only new machines are shipping with USB-C. So to have the benefits of USB-C in older devices, you can use a USB Converter.
USB Converters:
USB converters are a piece of hardware that you can get quickly from any hardware store or online from Amazon. Depending on the USB port you have on your device, you will get a specific USB converter for USB type-C. For example, if you have a USB 3.1 on your Laptop and want to connect USB-C to your Laptop, you can get a USB-C converter for USB 3.1. Hence, solving the problem for anyone using older standards and intends to use the new ones.
USB Type-C is so efficient that even Apple has included USB Type-C support on their Macbooks. However, USB-C is not replacing the Lightning connector for Apple Smartphones soon, but it may be the standard of Apple in the future. Those, who are thinking that USB-C is only for Mobiles and computers, might be wrong because USB-C has shown great potential in transferring power, therefore in future, it might take the place of our daily life Power input plugs or at least we would be able to find USB-C support in almost any device that runs on electricity.
USB Type-C Speed & Power
The power delivery specs of USB-C share some similarities with USB PD. However, there is a significant difference between these two. USB PD can only provide power up to 2.5Watts, which is sufficient to power or charge tablets and smartphones.
However, not enough to charge or power up more power-hungry devices like Laptops. While on the other hand, USB-C provides 100Watts of power that could power and charge a Laptop, making USB-C six times more capable than USB 3.1 and different USB versions. Thus, opens up many new possibilities that you could do with USB-C. For example, you can power projectors with your Laptop.
USB-C can push video over HDMI, VA, Displayport, and other types of Display connectors for Tv and projectors. With a high transfer data rate, you will have no issue streaming the video using USB-C. However, to do so, you will have to use the USB-C Alternate Mode to stream video as an output from USB-C to other devices through other Display ports.
USB Type-C is so efficient that some of the manufacturers like Samsung has developed a feature for their Galaxy, Tab, and Note models to be able to directly pluggable via USB-C into a monitor or a projector, which means you don't have to do any other configuration or to use a USB converter.
If you have gone through the whole article by now, you will probably understand how impressive the USB-C technology is, but if you are wondering about the disadvantages of USB-C, then there is only one.
One of the disadvantages of USB-C is that you will have to use a USB converter to use USB-C with older USB versions. USB-C plug can only be inserted in USB-C ports.
However, as said before in this article, USB-C is compatible with all other USB versions so, you will need a USB converted to get it to work, which in that case it's not a major disadvantage.
