USB4 is pretty much Thunderbolt 3, except it's called USB4, okay?!

USB-IF announces USB4 standard, will handle 100W of power over USB-C with up to 40Gbps bandwidth.

@anthony256

Published Sep 3, 2019 10:50 PM CDT
Updated Nov 3, 2020 12:47 PM CST

28 seconds read time

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) announced today that the final technical specifications for USB4 are here, with the first USB4 products to arrive in late-2020.

USB4 is pretty much Thunderbolt 3, except it's called USB4, okay?! 09

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USB4 ushers in dual-lane 40Gbps speeds which equal the dizzying heights of Thunderbolt 3, and double what USB 3.2 offered. USB4 will continue making our lives easier taking in the USB Type-C standard, and will be fully backwards compatible with USB 3.2, USB 2.0, and even Thunderbolt 3.

The new USB4 standard will tackle both data and display connectivity, which means we should (hopefully) see a future of more USB4-powered displays. USB3 was alright, but the transfer speeds didn't match Thunderbolt 3 which became important for content creators and enthusiasts who craved, and actually needed, all that speed.

Anthony Garreffa

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.