New USB spec will allow higher power products like laptops to be powered by USB connectors

New USB specifications will enable delivering up to 240 watts of power over the USB Type-C cable and connector, according to the organizations that sets the specs for the industry.

“With the new capabilities of USB Power Delivery 3.1, we now enable higher power products such as larger notebook PCs to shift from traditional power connectors to USB Type-C,” said Brad Saunders, chairman of the USB Promoter Group, the organization that announced the update. 

“We also anticipate a wider range of product application developers   outside of the traditional USB ecosystem to now consider standardizing on USB Type-C with USB Power Delivery power their power needs,” he said.   

Prior to this update, USB Power Delivery was limited to 100 watts.

The USB Type-C specification has also been updated with Release 2.1 to define 240W cable requirements, and with the updated USB Power Delivery protocol and power supply definition, this extends the applicability of USB Power Delivery to a large number of applications where 100W wasn’t adequate.  

The new USB Power Delivery architecture defines a much more stringent power negotiation protocol that helps to ensure that access to and use of this higher power capability can be done safely, according to the announcement. 

According to the group, safety requirements for products that use power in the range of 100 – 240W are more stringent than lower power products and are defined by the afety specifications dictated by the regulations for each country where the products will be sold.

This update is part of the USB performance roadmap and is specifically targeted to developers.  Branding and marketing guidelines are being established and will include a new cable labeling solution to inform users of the power capability supported by Certified USB Type-C cables.  

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