Ten years ago, Apple introduced ThunderBolt, which features high-speed transmission and support for simultaneous access of multiple devices. But four years later, ThunderBolt did not become popular, and it is understandable that Apple gave up ThunderBolt directly in order to make the MacBook thinner. The smaller USB Type-C interface (hereinafter referred to as USB-C) that can be inserted forward and backward has also become the focus of discussion.　　

1. Who is big and who is small on the interface?

The USB-C interface is similar in size to Micro USB, with a size of 8.4 mm x 2.6 mm. From the picture, the volume is slightly larger than the Lightning interface, but the difference is not far

What is Type-C in USB-C?　　

Type-C refers to a specific specification of a USB connector. In fact, USB connectors come in various specifications. For example, the commonly used USB connector in the past was commonly known as USB Type-A, and the common Micro USB connector on Android phones is also a specification of USB connectors.

The only interface that makes MacBook have high transfer rate and bidirectional charging characteristics is the latest USB 3.1 specification. This specification increases the USB interface transmission rate to 10Gbit/s and supports three voltage ranges of 5V/12V/20V, with a maximum power supply of 100W.

In fact, since USB 3.1 stipulates that USB 2.0/1.0 devices will be Backward compatibility, other traditional connectors (Type-A) that use the USB 3.1 specification can also be directly connected to the original USB device.

Therefore, on MacBook, the full name of the USB interface should be USB 3.1 Type-C.

The specifications of the USB connector determine the shape of the USB, while the USB transmission specifications determine its performance and functionality.

Why can USB-C replace MagSafe and ThunderBolt?

The most critical aspect is the USB 3.1 specification, which allows the interface to support 3 voltage bands and up to 100W power output. Among Apple Laptop, Retina MacBook Pro and 15 inch and 17 inch MacBook Pro have the highest power requirements, with 85W power. So, USB-C can fully meet MacBook's electricity demand.　　

Previously, Apple favored ThunderBolt because it could provide higher transmission efficiency, allowing Apple to freely develop higher resolution and better display quality displays. The USB3.1 rule not only increases the transmission rate to 10Gbit/s equivalent to ThunderBolt, but more importantly, it also supports the DisplayPort 1.2a digital video specification - Apple's monitors use the DisplayProt standard to connect to computers.

In the future, according to the latest DisplayPort 1.3 specification, it can support two 4K displays and 5K resolution displays simultaneously. Its bandwidth requirement has been increased to 8.1Gbit/s, without exceeding the performance limit of USB 3.1.

Can USB-C replace the Lightning interface on iPhone?

Due to the slender nature of USB-C, it is easy to imagine whether Apple will use it instead of Lightning on iPhone. But after careful study, it was found that although the two have similar appearance and can be powered or inserted in both directions, there are actually significant differences.　　

ARM's logo is printed on the chip at the top right

According to an anonymous explanation on The iPhone Wiki and the disassembly of the Lightning connector, Apple has installed chips inside the Lightning cable to communicate with other iPhone external devices.

A famous example is that Panic discovered an ARM SoC chip in the iPhone 5-to-HDMI adapter, which is also equipped with 256MB of RAM. Its workflow is to compress the decoded video signal, transmit it through a Lightning cable, and finally use an ARM chip to decode it and push it to an HDMI device.

In other words, if you just change the interface, there is not much difference between the UBS Type-C and the Lightning interface on the iPhone. But the difference between a USB cable and a Lightning cable is significant.

5. How many devices currently support USB-C?

MacBook is the first Laptop that supports USB-C. Given that other PC manufacturers have paid some tribute to Apple's new devices in the past few years, it is estimated that USB-C will soon appear in the next generation of PC laptops.　　

And for mobile devices, Nokia's tablet N1 is the world's first tablet that supports USB-C.

If it comes to external devices, SanDisk and LaCie have each launched external devices using USB-C. The former is a 32GB portable drive, while the latter is a mobile hard drive.