Difference Between USB Type C And USB 3.1 Explained

Today I’ll be explaining the difference between USB Type C and USB 3.1. So until recently, I myself was extremely confused between the two. And so I did a bunch of research and I thought about writing this blog clarifying the differences and so here it is.

Okay so USB type C is the actual type of USB head and port and USB 3.1 is the speed technology that allows for USB C to get those crazy fast transfer speeds that of course, your laptop needs to be able to support to clarify further. So we have the standard USB type A, which is the standard rectangular head then we have USB Type B which is the squarish type bulky head that is usually used in printers and then, of course, we have the latest one out there today USB type C.

USB Type C
Picture Source: www.iluv.com

Now there are some in between like the micro-A and B and mini A and B, but we won’t get into that in this blog. So the actual name of these adapter heads are called by their names or aka types type A, which is standard Type B and of course type C. And the same thing goes with the female ports and then, of course, we have the actual speed for data transfer so USB 1.1 is 12 megabits a second USB 2.0 is 60 megabytes per second USB 3.0, which is color blue is 625 megabytes per second and USB 3.1 gen2 is 1250 megabytes per second. So here’s a perfect example. See, I have a USB type A standard blue colored USB. This would mean that the adapter head is the standard rectangular type and the blue color would mean that this adapter is capable of USB 3.0 speeds but if you were to plug in this blue colored USB adapter into a USB port that only supports USB 2.0, it will work. But you won’t get that USB 3.0 speed.

USB 3.1
Image Source: www.kingston.com

Now let’s apply that same logic to USB type C. Remember that USB type C is just a type of head and port and in order for it to get that maximum speed of 1250 megabytes a second, the head and the female port would both need to be USB 3.1 capable. Now here’s where it might get a little confusing basically USB 3.0 has since been updated to USB 3.1 so USB 3.0 is now called USB 3.1 generation one which transfers at speeds up to 625 megabytes a second and then you have USB 3.1 generation two and the speeds on that go up to 1250 megabytes a second. Yeah, it’s a cluster. And I’m not really sure why they did them like that. So to conclude USB type A, B and C are just different types of adapter heads and USB 1, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 and of course, USB 3.1 is the speed technologies that all run different speeds, one being the slowest and 3.1 generation to the fastest.

Well, that is going to be it for this blog. I hope that this cleared up a bunch of confusion for you. If it did, tap that share / subscribe button to see more content like this in the future. Drop a comment in the comments section below. Thanks for reading.