USB Kill off SuperSpeed (and USB4!) Branding as it tries to simplify its ubiquitous connector

[Gdfelt]

Summary

They are killing off not only SuperSpeed branding, but USB(4) as anything consumer facing, they have decided to no longer show the usb version implementation to users, but rather market their products based off of implemented features.
All USB imlementations will simply be called USB XXbps
eg: "USB 40gbs"

 

 

Quotes

Quote

"...SuperSpeed branding. If the name doesn’t ring any bells, then that’s probably because you (like most other people) simply referred to it by its USB 3 version number. Alongside it, the USB-IF is also ditching USB4 as a consumer-facing brand name."
“What consumers want to know — and what we learned — is they want to know two things: What’s the highest data performance level the product can achieve? And what’s the highest power level I can get or drive from this product,” he says. “That’s all they want to know.”
"So, instead of referring to USB devices by a version number or vague name like “SuperSpeed,” the USB-IF wants companies to use branding that reflects these all-important specs. “SuperSpeed USB 5Gbps” and “SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps” are now just “USB 5Gbps” and “USB 10Gbps” respectively, while “USB4 40Gbps” and “USB4 20Gbps” are becoming “USB 40Gbps” and “USB 20Gbps.” "

 

My thoughts

I think this is either gonna make it more Universal in the long run, or its gonna throw every single consumer for a loop and its just gonna double up the mess that already is USB and the USB Implementers Forum

 

Sources

https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/30/23378231/usb-rebranding-2022-logos-gbps-wattage-charging-transfer-speeds-simplification-usb4-superspeed

[Murasaki]

I'm still on USB3.0 and I really can't be bothered with anything above that.

[starsmine]

Big
No more trying to figure out if full speed,  high speed, super speed, super speed++, mega speed, ultra sped is greater.

[dizmo]

Nice. I think. Is there any way this is overly simplified? There's so many different aspects to USB I feel like it's going to be missing something.

[Eaglerino]

27 minutes ago, Murasaki said:

I'm still on USB3.0 and I really can't be bothered with anything above that.

Spoken like someone who doesn't use a hub for a modern laptop or have storage faster than a hard drive

 

I never understood why these big companies have such complicated naming schemes. Even for patch notes. Bethesda for example counts their patches from 1-50 or whatever, and it's so easy to tell someone what got added in what patch instead of saying 40.x34.adv. Internal designations don't need to be what the rest of us lowly peasants see

[Senzelian]

They were already calling it that since USB 3.2

 

All they did was to get rid of USB 4 and USB SuperSpeed as a consumer branding, even tho that was already clear when they announced that they'd call 3.2 Gen 1 "USB 5Gbit", 3.2 Gen 2 "USB 10Gbit" and 3.2 Gen 2x2 "USB 20Gbit".

[LAwLz]

7 minutes ago, Senzelian said:

They were already calling it that since USB 3.2

 

All they did was to get rid of USB 4 and USB SuperSpeed as a consumer branding, even tho that was already clear when they announced that they'd call 3.2 Gen 1 "USB 5Gbit", 3.2 Gen 2 "USB 10Gbit" and 3.2 Gen 2x2 "USB 20Gbit".

Yep.

 

Realistically, this changes nothing.

Motherboard manufactures might still decide to call what is officially called "USB 20Gbps" as whatever they want because it benefits them to trick consumers.

Since device makers haven't cared about using the official names for USB ports with USB 3 (which is the reason why so many people re confused, because the official names aren't used) I don't see it happening with USB 4 either.

[Fasterthannothing]

honestly this is awesome back to just simple numbering 

[AlTech]

57 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Nice. I think. Is there any way this is overly simplified?

Possibly since there's different ways of getting 10Gbps USB speeds with USB 3.1 Gen 2, USB 3.2 1x2, and USB 3.2 2x1.

 

USB 3.1 Gen 2 and 3.2 1x2 are dual 5Gbps lanes giving you 10Gbps in total vs a single 10Gbps lane in USB 3.2 2x1 (2x2 then being dual lane 10Gbps).

 

Some cables and adapters may work with dual lane standards whilst others may only work with single lane standards.

57 minutes ago, dizmo said:

There's so many different aspects to USB I feel like it's going to be missing something.

 

[Doobeedoo]

Well as for "SuperSpeed" I've never heard people using that even yet we've seen "SS" stamped too. Waste of space really.

But not sure, I was fine with USB4 name it kinda fixed all prior mess with older ver and old connector. So 4 being a new slate per say and C only. But, naming them with speed designation alone can also be a problem. I alluded to this before, because USB4 for example can be 10Gbps on low bar and is C connector but older A can get faster. Always felt that lowest speed of newer version made no sense. Why they had to make this mess I'm not sure. New ver should start at double of fastest older one or at least same, not slower it's stupid.

Version naming incorporated at least both in a way. Like USB4 but yeah. Either way type C needs to become new standard faster why do so many slack is annoying. But seeing speed and wattage is good.

 

[tikker]

Good. No version numbers in marketing names was already the case with the 3.X standard, but unfortunately neither manufacturers nor news outlets seem capable or willing of using the actual names. With the versatility of the new standard it might as well drop them completely indeed.

 

WAN show started this off somewhat misleading, in my opinion. If you look at the USB web pages when 3.0 was released it was already called SuperSpeed, so this wasn't a later rebranding. I can understand saying "USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 SuperSpeed USB 20 Gbps is now USB 20 Gbps" from a narrative point of view, but it is misleading, because it's glueing together terms that mean the same, but are used in different contexts. Instead of beating a dead horse, I would love a proper "making sense of the USB standard" video that actually explains what the version number refers to, what the generations mean and what the official names are (whether one likes them or not). If we include USB 1 we're talking about a standard that aims to provide over 25 years of backwards compatability. I'd be more surprised if it wasn't a bit of a mess.

 

1 hour ago, Doobeedoo said:

But, naming them with speed designation alone can also be a problem. I alluded to this before, because USB4 for example can be 10Gbps on low bar and is C connector but older A can get faster. Always felt that lowest speed of newer version made no sense. Why they had to make this mess I'm not sure. New ver should start at double of fastest older one or at least same, not slower it's stupid.

The max speed of USB has increased with new versions. One of the 20 Gbps modes Gen 2x2, and since Gen 2 is a 10 Gbps mode naturally a Gen 2x1 10 Gbps one exists.

17 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

Possibly since there's different ways of getting 10Gbps USB speeds with USB 3.1 Gen 2, USB 3.2 1x2, and USB 3.2 2x1.

 

USB 3.1 Gen 2 and 3.2 1x2 are dual 5Gbps lanes giving you 10Gbps in total vs a single 10Gbps lane in USB 3.2 2x1 (2x2 then being dual lane 10Gbps).

 

Some cables and adapters may work with dual lane standards whilst others may only work with single lane standards.

This is why they don't want the spec version or transfer modes to be used to label devices. To the user it shouldn't really matter how the speed is achieved. With all of USB's backwards compatability I would be surprised if a cable/port combination that doesn't work together at the rated speed would be allowed to exist (within reason, like of course you can't expect a port built to an older spec to support features from newer specs).

[TetraSky]

Well, in a way, this could make it easier to know if a cable you're buying is certified for what you want to use it for... But, you just know the cheap cables are going to claim they are USB 40Gbps "ready" regardless of whether it's true or not. Because they aren't going to get that certification.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

22 hours ago, Eaglerino said:

Spoken like someone who doesn't use a hub for a modern laptop or have storage faster than a hard drive

 

I never understood why these big companies have such complicated naming schemes. Even for patch notes. Bethesda for example counts their patches from 1-50 or whatever, and it's so easy to tell someone what got added in what patch instead of saying 40.x34.adv. Internal designations don't need to be what the rest of us lowly peasants see

Me using a Targus Docking Station running a 1440p + 1080p monitor while handling ethernet, mouse/keyboard, webcam, and wireless headset off a single USB3.0 cable to the laptop. What's the problem again? 

[ignaloidas]

I saw Linus cover this badly enough that I got annoyed enough to create a video to clarify USB marketing history and the bullshit manufacturers made.

 

[Ydfhlx]

On 9/30/2022 at 9:48 PM, Murasaki said:

I'm still on USB3.0 and I really can't be bothered with anything above that.

No, you aren't. It's actually called USB 3.2 gen 1.

[Gamer Schnitzel]

Keep cheering guys but ultimately what this does is contribute to the dumbing down of the world population. Back in the day if you were a computer user you were by default more intelligent because several tasks on the PC took quite a bit of work and understanding whereas now you press 1 button and everything gets done for you but where are the computer users now? Nowhere. Nobody owns computers anymore. Instead people are obsessed with liking images of attractive girls on social media. A kid who spends time doing complicated things growing up will never ever sit around on social media and like people's images. They will choose a hobby that requires some level of brain activity but kids today barely do anything that requires them to think these days and that's why every generation is getting dumber and even more weird and now people don't even need to memorize USB names or speeds anymore because the amounts of + will tell you which is better or worse. The best part of this is that the people on this forum are the rejects who spend their time online and don't like society but you guys are sitting here celebrating a change that will make society worse. Keep it up Einsteins.

[RockSolid1106]

52 minutes ago, Gamer Schnitzel said:

Keep cheering guys but ultimately what this does is contribute to the dumbing down of the world population. Back in the day if you were a computer user you were by default more intelligent because several tasks on the PC took quite a bit of work and understanding whereas now you press 1 button and everything gets done for you but where are the computer users now? Nowhere. Nobody owns computers anymore. Instead people are obsessed with liking images of attractive girls on social media. A kid who spends time doing complicated things growing up will never ever sit around on social media and like people's images. They will choose a hobby that requires some level of brain activity but kids today barely do anything that requires them to think these days and that's why every generation is getting dumber and even more weird and now people don't even need to memorize USB names or speeds anymore because the amounts of + will tell you which is better or worse. The best part of this is that the people on this forum are the rejects who spend their time online and don't like society but you guys are sitting here celebrating a change that will make society worse. Keep it up Einsteins.

Jesus christ

[tikker]

1 hour ago, Ydfhlx said:

No, you aren't. It's actually called USB 3.2 gen 1.

It's not. If it's a 5 Gbps product then it's called SuperSpeed USB for consumers. The 3.X standard is currently at 3.2 and Gen 1 is the internal name of the 5 Gbps mode, not a version.

58 minutes ago, Gamer Schnitzel said:

but you guys are sitting here celebrating a change that will make society worse. Keep it up Einsteins.

For marketing purposes I can get on board with this change honestly. You see it's a USB device and you see how fast it can go. Realistically it doesn't matter for the majority what version of the specification it was built against, just that it does X, Y and Z. Even for tech savvy people. The specifications themselves will still exist and for the interested folks you can put the specification and other details in some small print.

[Kisai]

On 10/2/2022 at 3:13 AM, tikker said:

It's not. If it's a 5 Gbps product then it's called SuperSpeed USB for consumers. The 3.X standard is currently at 3.2 and Gen 1 is the internal name of the 5 Gbps mode, not a version.

For marketing purposes I can get on board with this change honestly. You see it's a USB device and you see how fast it can go. Realistically it doesn't matter for the majority what version of the specification it was built against, just that it does X, Y and Z. Even for tech savvy people. The specifications themselves will still exist and for the interested folks you can put the specification and other details in some small print.

 

I'm not particularly keen on this.

 

What should have happened here is just removing all the middle tiers.

Your cable is either a 240w (silent 5Gbps support) "charge-only cable", a 240w+40Gbps "regular cable", or a 60w+40Gbps "Transfer cable". There is no need for the 10 and 20Gbps cable, or any cables that only support 60w charging.

 

As "USB" advances, then the numbers can change upwards. Not downwards. Allowing all these different cable types doesn't solve anything. The ports can be whatever the part on the laptop actually supports. 

 

What's going to happen is there will be a bunch of crappy made "60w" cables that get remarked as 240w and 5Gbps remarked as 40gb so the counterfeiter will make more money. Don't say it won't happen. That happens with SD card capacity and bandwidth.

 

Hopefully someone puts the screws to the manufacturers and tells sites like Amazon and retailers like Costco and Walmart that they (the store) are required to have a lifetime warranty on the cables. If it breaks, you send it back to the retailer, and they give you an equal or better cable. If they won't put a lifetime warranty on the cable they shouldn't be selling it.

 

[NF-A12x25]

On 10/2/2022 at 5:15 AM, Gamer Schnitzel said:

Keep cheering guys but ultimately what this does is contribute to the dumbing down of the world population. Back in the day if you were a computer user you were by default more intelligent because several tasks on the PC took quite a bit of work and understanding whereas now you press 1 button and everything gets done for you but where are the computer users now? Nowhere. Nobody owns computers anymore. Instead people are obsessed with liking images of attractive girls on social media. A kid who spends time doing complicated things growing up will never ever sit around on social media and like people's images. They will choose a hobby that requires some level of brain activity but kids today barely do anything that requires them to think these days and that's why every generation is getting dumber and even more weird and now people don't even need to memorize USB names or speeds anymore because the amounts of + will tell you which is better or worse. The best part of this is that the people on this forum are the rejects who spend their time online and don't like society but you guys are sitting here celebrating a change that will make society worse. Keep it up Einsteins.

best bait I’ve seen in ages

[williamcll]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

 

I'm not particularly keen on this.

 

What should have happened here is just removing all the middle tiers.

Your cable is either a 240w (silent 5Gbps support) "charge-only cable", a 240w+40Gbps "regular cable", or a 60w+40Gbps "Transfer cable". There is no need for the 10 and 20Gbps cable, or any cables that only support 60w charging.

 

As "USB" advances, then the numbers can change upwards. Not downwards. Allowing all these different cable types doesn't solve anything. The ports can be whatever the part on the laptop actually supports. 

 

What's going to happen is there will be a bunch of crappy made "60w" cables that get remarked as 240w and 5Gbps remarked as 40gb so the counterfeiter will make more money. Don't say it won't happen. That happens with SD card capacity and bandwidth.

 

Hopefully someone puts the screws to the manufacturers and tells sites like Amazon and retailers like Costco and Walmart that they (the store) are required to have a lifetime warranty on the cables. If it breaks, you send it back to the retailer, and they give you an equal or better cable. If they won't put a lifetime warranty on the cable they shouldn't be selling it.

 

Oh yeah, there's a lot of USB2.0 type-Cs with PD65/100/140W

[GeorgeB123]

Honestly, they should oblige anyone that sells products with USB, accessories and cables, just put a table on the back of the box with all the details about the used USB spec - speed, wattage, uni or bi- directional charge, displayport alt-mode=yes/no, etc.

USB will never have a perfect naming scheme so listing everything on the box would probably be more beneficial. If it wouldn't hurt too much, maybe even engrave them on the cable (if any)

[tikker]

3 hours ago, Kisai said:

What should have happened here is just removing all the middle tiers.

Your cable is either a 240w (silent 5Gbps support) "charge-only cable", a 240w+40Gbps "regular cable", or a 60w+40Gbps "Transfer cable". There is no need for the 10 and 20Gbps cable, or any cables that only support 60w charging.

I think the reason for the split between 240 and 60 is that they are different power ranges in the spec. There is Standard Power Range that goes up to 20V/3A, or 20V/5A with a specific 5A cable and is thus "limited" to 60 W (or 100 W with a 5A cable). Anything above that falls under the Extended Power Range, which goes up to 48V/5A.

 

Speed-wise, it seems they plan on keeping USB 2.0 and 3.2 around for a bit at least since it's still listed on their website, so they'll have to accommodate those speeds explicitely I guess. There is something to be said about deprecating those and keeping only USB4, but they way the USB4 spec is done doesn't readily allow for that I think, because it's more of a wrapper around all the other specs and functionalites.

3 hours ago, Kisai said:

What's going to happen is there will be a bunch of crappy made "60w" cables that get remarked as 240w and 5Gbps remarked as 40gb so the counterfeiter will make more money. Don't say it won't happen. That happens with SD card capacity and bandwidth.

It'll probably happen, but we can't really blame USB for fraudsters, except that they should watch this closer to avoid the present day mess created by manufacturers.

 

 

[Real_PhillBert]

This will cause more confusion in the short term, but I think help in the long term. There's been a lot of confusion about USB standards in the last few years by those who arent enthusiasts, hopefully this will cut down on that.

[Forbidden Wafer]

On 10/1/2022 at 9:27 AM, Doobeedoo said:

 

 

Well, that is the most understandable logo scheme the USB Forum ever produced.

Names are still shit. One would expect "hi-speed" to be faster than any other skus, instead of being the slowest of them all.