USB 3.0 Could Support 100W Devices In Near-Future

When USB 3.0 was first made commercial a couple of years ago, its introduction was a welcome one. While we didn’t see quite the same sort of leap going from 2.0 to 3.0 as we did from 1.1 to 2.0, USB 3.0 is faster than a SATA 2 port and sits just behind SATA 3. In gist, it’s fast, and most people will never be able to totally saturate one single port (the fastest external USB 3.0 SSDs only manage to use 50% of the bandwidth they’re given).

Given that the USB 3.0 bus is so giving, where to next? According to the USB 3.0 Promoter Group, power is the new focus. Currently, most USB ports can handle modest devices such as external hard drives and accessories without the need of external power, and are also able to charge certain devices, like a phone. Going a step further though, imagine plugging a display into a USB 3.0 and that be it – no external power cord at all.

Thanks to certain tweaks that can be made to the USB 3.0 bus, variable voltages can be introduced along with a total power throughput of 100W. That means that even NAS boxes and other relatively power-sucking devices can be used, such as displays, which for most 24″ models or under sit well below 100W.

If something like this is to happen, it does mean that power supply choices will need to be made with a bit more care, as any USB 3.0 device that does suck down a fair amount of power would now be drawing it from the PSU, rather than straight from the wall.

I admit that this almost sounds too good to be true, and as it stands, nothing is final. The Promoter Group will be releasing the final specification for industry review later this year, so we will not know for some time if it’s allowed to go ahead or not.