There is one more generation of USB - USB 4 - which was announced in August of 2019, but this technology is still not yet widely available. Compare that to the third generation of USB, USB 3.0, which can transfer at a rate of 10 times faster still, at 4,800 Mbps. It wasn't until 2000 that USB 2.0 was unveiled, offering a 40 times faster data transfer speed, at 480 Mbps.

The next generation, USB 1.1, can transfer at a speed of about 12 Mbps, which is considered relatively slow today. Unsurprisingly, the 1.0 standard is the most basic and slowest of all the options, with a maximum speed of 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps). It is also used to transfer data between devices, such as between flash drives or external hard drives and computers.īoth USB 2 and USB 3 are built upon the first USB technologies, USB 1.0 and 1.1, which were released in 19 respectively. USB (universal serial bus) is the standard used to connect peripherals - flash drives, keyboards, mice, cameras, phone chargers, etc. But did you know that, while they all may look pretty much the same, there are actually different generations of this type of plug which may affect performance? In this guide, we'll go over two of the most popular ones at the moment - USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.īefore we dive into the differences between these two generations of USB, here's a quick refresher on USB as a whole.

Whether it be charging your phone, uploading photos with a USB flash drive, or swapping out peripherals on your computer at work, you're most likely relatively familiar with the USB connector and port. USB devices are ubiquitous in our day-to-day lives.

Wireless dongle usb 2 vs usb 3