There are vidabytes you use for your iOS or Android devices, for example. They are also present in external hard drives or Smart TV models. You can use USB cables to transfer information and there are two big groups: USB 3.2 and 2nd Generation cables. In this article you can learn the main differences between USB cables and how to choose one or another.
USB cables are extremely easy to use. You only need to connect both ends of the cable. However the category or generation of these accessories may cause some issues. For example, in terms of USB 3.2 or 2nd Generation models you may find several versions. Here you will learn the difference between 1×2 and 2×2 cables as well as others.
How to identify a USB 3.2 from 1st or 2nd Generation
The USB-IF (USB Implementer Forum) generated confusion when it updated the nomenclature for USB cables. The USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed USB) is the only option available that supports up to 5 Gbps. Then 3.1 arrived and 3.2 caused the restructuration of USB cable versions naming.
USB 3.0 is also 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 3.1 is now 3.2 2nd Generation. The first model still reaches 5 Gbps, but the second generation increases the data transfer rate to 10 Gbps. This is the only difference because the rest of the characteristics are similar, in terms of compatibility with USB-A, microUSB and USB-C.
Then a set of other variants appeared. They are 3.2 Gen 1×2 that offers 10 Gbps with two lines, and Gen 2×2 with 20 Gbps for two lines. The latter only use USB-C port. To sum up, there are four options that created certain confusion even though they wanted to simplify things.
Issue
There are only two generations for USB cables, 1st Gen and 2nd Gen. The main difference is the transfer capacity and both include 1×2 and 2×2 versions that only work with USB-C devices.
The origin of the confusion can be traced to the decision of unifying the updates after USB 3.0. However, now we are facing the update to USB 4 with Thunderbolt technology. The latest standard that will bring new features to your devices.
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