Consumers are currently left confused by USB-C ports
Is that a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port on your PC or a USB 40Gbps? Nobody without a degree in computer science knows, which is why Microsoft is vowing to end the “which USB port is this?” confusion.
The USB-C connector was meant to make computing life simpler, with one reversible connection that could handle charging, displays, peripherals and data transfer. Instead, it’s turned into a horror show, with various standards leaving consumers confused as to what the ports on their computer are actually capable of.
Microsoft claims that its Windows diagnostics data shows that just over a quarter of users have been shown a Windows error message when plugging in a USB-C device, only to find the port doesn’t support the feature they wanted. For example, plugging a monitor into a USB-C port that doesn’t support display output.
“Not all USB-C ports are created equal,” the company writes in a blog. “You can’t tell which ones deliver the full experience just by looking at them.”
Finally, Microsoft plans to do something about this.
Microsoft’s USB Port Plan
The company plans to “establish a minimum bar for USB-C port capabilities on PCs.” This will be part of the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program, “turning optional features into mandatory ones, and ensure a consistent level of performance you can count on,” Microsoft claims.
That means when a USB-C port appears on a PC in future, it will guarantee that:
- The port can be used to charge devices such as smartphones and headphones.
- That it will support “DisplayPort Alt-mode”, meaning the days of plugging in an external monitor and seeing nothing but a blank display and/or a warning message on the PC should come to an end.
- That systems with USB 40Gbps are also fully compatible with USB4 and Thunderbolt 3 peripherals, again reducing the chances of plugging in a device and it not working.
There’s still potential for some confusion, with different USB-C ports operating at different speeds. Currently, for example, USB-4 is available in both 40Gbps and 80Gbps speed variants via a USB-C connector, although only those seeking the highest performance from external storage would ever really notice the difference in the real world.
Perhaps the biggest downside of Microsoft’s plan is that it’s taken so long to get here and the benefits are unlikely to be felt for many years yet. Obviously, the standard only applies to new PCs, not devices that are already in homes and businesses, or in supply chains around the world.
That means it’s likely to be several years before you can plug a device into a Windows laptop and be confident that it will meet the above criteria – by which time the PC industry might have moved on to another, different type of connector altogether. (Hopefully not. The industry does appear to have coalesced around USB-C and it’s in nobody’s interests to create another standard. But it’s not out of the question, either.)
So, brace yourself for a few more years of the “which USB port is this?” confusion, until Microsoft’s new certification scheme has become the industry standard.
