The Universal Serial Bus (USB) has been the de facto standard for computer connectors since the late 90s. During that time, it is widely believed that no one has ever managed to plug in a USB cable the right way on the first try. Well, that’s going to change with the introduction of USB 3.1 and the new Type-C connector. We’re finally getting our first look at the new cable that will make your old ports obsolete.

This will be the first time the USB standard has adopted a configuration that is not backwards compatible with older cables. There will still be support for the traditional rectangular ports, but devices will start coming with slimmer, reversible Type-C connectors that look much more like the current microUSB plug. The goal is to unify USB 3.1 as a single smaller plug for PCs and mobile devices alike.

Like Apple’s Lightning connector, the Type-C cable will be fully reversible, thus avoiding the process of elimination as you struggle to get a USB cable slotted into the port correctly. However, it will take time for the traditional ports to disappear completely. Remember, the Type-C cable itself won’t be backwards compatible.

Although less important to your overall happiness, the technology backing USB 3.1 will also make connectivity even faster — the new cables will offer bandwidth of up to 10Gbps. The USB 3.1 spec was released last year, but the design of the Type-C connector is not set in stone just yet. The final version is expected around the middle of the year, but the USB Implementers Forum is apparently close enough to finalizing the design to make these images public.

By: DocMemory
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