USB-C is ubiquitous by now, due to its help for high-speed information switch, charging, and even video output. One cable to rule all of them and in interoperability bind them, regardless that it may be exhausting to inform the distinction between USB-C cables with totally different capabilities. However what does the “C” truly stand for? Various conflicting solutions abound. Some declare it stands for “charging” or “connectivity,” whereas others consider that it refers back to the rounded form of the connector, which vaguely resembles the letter if it have been elongated. Alas, nevertheless believable they might sound, none of these explanations is true.
The “C” in USB-C refers back to the plug and receptacle kind, which is the third major kind of connector within the historical past of USB. There was USB Kind-A, then USB Kind-B, and now now we have USB Kind-C. It is so simple as one, two, three. These names have been assigned by the USB Implementers Discussion board (USB-IF), a consortium of tech corporations that administers specs for the usual.
Nonetheless, in case you truly take the time to depend totally different USB connectors through the years, you will understand issues aren’t so simple. Regardless of its identify, USB-C is not precisely the third kind of USB receptacle ever launched. Maybe this reality explains why so many individuals assume the “C” stands for one thing else. Learn forward as we break all of it down.
A historical past of USB connectors
For those who’ve owned a lot of devices through the years, you in all probability know there are excess of simply three varieties of USB connectors. USB Kind-A — the slim, rectangular connector — remains to be discovered on many laptops and desktop PCs. Then there’s USB Kind-B, the six-sided connector that appears like a sq. with two of its corners reduce off. You have in all probability seen these on printers, audio gear, and different laptop peripherals. Kind-B connectors modified between USB 2.0 and three.0, with a taller plug that seemed like a small sq. stacked on high of a bigger one. However even when we do not depend that replace, USB-C nonetheless is not the third kind of USB connector.
For those who as soon as owned a non-iPod music participant, a point-and-shoot digital digicam, or perhaps a low cost modern-day USB gadget, you will keep in mind the tiny USB Mini and USB Micro ports they typically featured. Their existence makes USB Kind-C the fifth connector within the USB lineage, not even counting additional revisions. Maybe the USB-IF considers Mini and Micro to be spin-offs, like how “Star Wars” TV reveals are to the mainline film franchise.
With that stated, USB naming has at all times been complicated. Take USB 3.0 SuperSpeed ports, which expanded through the years to incorporate numerous iterations, together with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2. In that context, USB-C is solely one other addition to the pile of confusingly named USB requirements.
