https://www.techpowerup.com/287372/usb-if-brings-new-usb-certification-logos-to-help-consumers-buy-the-right-cables-and-chargers Last week, the
EU Commission announced that it's working towards making USB-C the universal standard for charging portable electronics and this week, the USB-IF is bringing new Certified USB Type-C cable and Certified USB4 logos to help consumers figure out what is what. However, the USB-IF is also pointing out that consumers should only buy Certified USB products from trusted sources, suggesting that there are a lot of products in the market that don't meet the various USB specifications.
The new logos can be seen below and the first one is for devices that support 40 Gbps speeds over USB. Keep in mind that although USB4 is broadly based on Thunderbolt 3, the cables aren't going to be exactly the same, but that some USB4 implementations can also support Thunderbolt 4, just to complicate things a little bit extra. This logo can also be used with 40 Gbps capable ports on devices.
The second new logo is for cables supporting 240 W charging, i.e. 48 V at 5 A. This is a lot higher Voltage than current cables, that top out at either 20 V and 5 A, as long as the cable has an E-marker chip built into each connector, or 20 V and 3 A for cables without such a chip. Presumably the new cables will require an updated E-marker chip, as the USB-IF only offers certification logos for 60 W and 240 W cables, suggesting that anything over 60 W will use the same E-marker chip.
Finally there's a logo for 240 W certified chargers, although, oddly enough, this logo is only mandatory on the packaging, so it won't help people to quickly identify a higher-end charger by simply looking for the logo. On the other hand, the USB-IF is also offering combined logos of the 40 Gbps and 240 W certified logos, but only for cables if the logo is to be printed on the device itself.
Hopefully this will help clear things up a bit for the average consumer, but often these logos aren't printed on the packaging and rarely used properly online. Having a quick look at Amazon, some 20 Gbps cables are shown with the USB 2.0 Hi-Speed certified logo, others seemingly claiming to support eGPUs and most, even from known brands, have no logos at all, yet claiming to be 20 Gbps and 100 W capable. If the USB-IF can't even make its members put the logo on their products, yet warning consumers to only buy certified products, what chance does the consumers have to know what they're buying?
I'm not sure personally if this will help customers or confuse them even more.
