USB-C just received a powerful upgrade: You will soon be able to charge your devices at 240W

The universal power charging standard was previously capable of charging devices at 100W — the revision to 2.1 more than doubles that speed to 240W.

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: May 26 2021, 13:33 IST

USB-C Power Delivery just got a lot faster. (Pixabay)

The arrival of USB-C was the perfect solution to many of the problems associated with its predecessor, bringing along powerful charging capabilities that went up to 100W via the USB-C Power Delivery standard used on smartphones like the Google Pixel and MacBooks that have a Thunderbolt port. The latest revision to the USB-C connector specification is set to bring that limit up to an incredible 240W for power delivery.

Also read: Motorola's ‘wireless' over-the-air charging could arrive sooner than expected

According to Android Central, the USB Implementers Forum (also known as USB-IF) revised the specification to 2.1 which was announced on Tuesday. This new ability to charge at 240W is called EPR, or Extended Power Range. This means the USB charging standard will now be able to power several large devices that have much heavier power requirements.

USB-C Power Delivery is faster than previous USB standards, but the arrival of the new 2.1 revision will bring charging to a whole new level. To put that into perspective, devices like Apple's MacBooks that were limited by the 100W charging limit can potentially charge at 2.4 times that speed on future models.

In the future, all cables that support charging devices at a maximum of 240W will have to display a specific icon to show users that it is capable of these blistering fast charging speeds, as CNET notes. They could potentially be enough to power very power-hungry devices like gaming laptops, 4K monitors, laser printers, large power banks – or even e-bikes.

Since USB-PD is a standard that can be (and is) adopted by several manufacturers, the revision is more significant than other fast charging standards that are developed in-house by manufacturers, which are traditionally limited to their own devices. Currently, smartphones can charge at around 120W, so it remains to be seen how much USB-PD will be able to speed up charging on mobile devices.