USB4 might have just recently launched, bringing transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps throughput, but one company is already looking toward the next step in the evolution of USB. Enter Elecom, which has officially become the first company to certify its USB4 2.0 cables. They’re the world’s first USB4 2.0 cables, and they promise transfer speeds up to twice as fast as regular USB4.
Elecom is currently aiming for a December release date for the two variations of its new USB4 2.0 cables, with the base cable offering 80 Gbps throughput and 60W of charging capability, while the other offers a massive jump in power output to 240W at 48V/5A.
The world’s first USB4 2.0 cables will be limited to Japan initially, reports indicate. But like anything, we’ll likely see them expanding down the line. When exactly, though, is unclear at the moment. Even if Elecom doesn’t expand availability, other USB4 2.0 cables will likely hit the market in the coming months.
Moving past the sheer speed of these cables, the variant that offers up to 240W power is going to be a game-changer. It’ll make it easier to quickly charge your iPhone, Android phone, and whatever else you might need to top off the battery level. Additionally, the cables will also support DisplayPort passthrough of up to 8K at 60Hz (a video output of 7680 × 4320 pixels).
Of course, even with the world’s first USB4 2.0 cable dropping in December, it’s going to take much longer for companies to actually fully adopt the new cable type. The tech was originally announced in 2022, but it has yet to actually roll out to any motherboards via native support.
Sure, Microsoft has already started prepping Windows 11 for USB4 2.0 support thanks to its Insider preview builds, but we’re still a long way from that support making its way to the full release channel.
