USB ports and USB cables

A digital device can be connected with other devices through wifi or cables in order to transfer data. If using a cable to connect devices, we need to identify the right cable to plug into the right port on the device. One of the most commonly used type is USB (Universal Serial Bus). There are USB devices and USB cables.

Interfaces

Both USB devices and USB cables have interfaces, eg: a computer may have many USB ports and a USB cable has connectors on each end. Those ports and connectors are the interfaces. There are several major types of interfaces: USB-A (Type A), USB-B (Type B), Micro USB, USB Type C and Thunderbolt3.

Standards

Same type of interface may support different USB standards. More advanced standard means higher data transfer speed. USB 1.x was released in 1996, but it is unlikely to find any USB 1.x devices or cables nowadays. USB 2.x is still used in mice, keyboards, and similar devices as speed(up to 480 Mbps) is not a priority for them. The most popular standard is USB3.x. USB 3.2’s speed is up to 20 Gbps. Apple launched MacBook Pro with thunderbolt3 ports in 2016 with 40 Gbps data transfer rate.

However, if using USB 2.0 cable to connect USB3.0 devices, it will limit the speed to USB 2.0 standard. Apple only provide USB 2.x cable with their products by default as Thunderbolt3 cable is too expensive. Therefore, most of the time Thunderbolt3 ports of MacBook are used as USB 3.x port.

reference:
https://www.houkconsulting.com/2018/11/understanding-usb-cables-ports/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB
https://m.mydrivers.com/newsview/604708.html?ref=