New upcoming USB Type-C standard can support up to 240W . charging power

It can be said that one of the factors contributing to the rapid development of fast charging technology on smartphones in general is the ability to support the large voltage transmission capacity of the USB Type-C standard. Recently, in a post on the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) website, the USB Type-C protocol will soon welcome a new version with the ability to support output power up to 240W - a number that is quite long. impressive period.

Specifically, according to information extracted from the USB Type-C specification revision 2.1, along with the USB Power Delivery specification revision released by USB-IF a few days ago, cables and hardware devices This new generation USB-C 2.1 standard will be able to support a maximum charging capacity of 240W, instead of being limited to 100W on the current USB-C 2.0 standard. That is more than double!

However, such a large power level will not be arbitrarily utilized by default, but will instead need to be activated through the included Extended Power Range (EPR) mode for safety and reliability. reliable during charging. At the same time, devices such as smartphones, tablets or laptops . will also have to support voltages up to 48V and 5A current to be compatible with this new standard.

New upcoming USB Type-C standard can support up to 240W . charging power Picture 1

In general, the appearance of Type-C 2.1 is likely not to create many notable changes to the world of smartphones and tablets. Simply because these compact mobile devices do not inherently need such a large amount of charging capacity (and hardware limitations are also a big barrier). However, there will be noticeable improvements in charging capacity for laptops.

While most ultra-thin and light notebook models today can be powered via a USB cable, there are some dedicated gaming laptops that often require more power input than the same input. exclusive connections, as they require more than 100W of power to keep the power charging in faster than draining the battery. Support for 240W charging via USB Type-C could help bring the USB connector to more laptop models, eliminating the need to use different connector standards for each separate device type.

In addition, the increased power transmission will also allow manufacturers to integrate USB Type-C for more peripherals, such as large 4K monitors, printers, etc. hardware state with high compatibility.

Cables that support the new specification will still be compatible with devices using older versions of USB Type-C, so the 240W charger can be used with any device that supports it. At the same time, USB-IF says that devices that support USB Type-C 2.1 will have to be electronically marked to ensure they don't cause problems when users try to use the high-voltage charger.

David Pac

Update 27 May 2021