That is what you have to learn about USB port colours

It is a frequent joke that the “U” in USB is a mistake. The format is hardly common. There are a number of connector varieties — largely USB-A and USB-C, today — and irrespective of which one you are coping with, it is generally arduous to inform what kind of data speeds you may be getting, not to mention energy supply. Contemplate that 2025’s entry-level iPhone 17 has a USB-C port, however can solely transfer information at USB 2.0 charges, even though the two.0 spec initially launched a quarter-century in the past. Hope you may have an hour helpful when you’re making an attempt to backup your cellphone, or switch massive quantities of 4K video.

As if that weren’t complicated sufficient, a few of the ports on laptop computer, desktop, and pill PCs (together with their equipment) come in numerous colours. That is one thing I by no means paid a lot consideration to till just lately, if I am trustworthy. However as I’ve realized, it could possibly doubtlessly type out a few of the chaos on older machines. That is not the case on newer ones, as I am going to illustrate.

What do the totally different USB port colours imply?

A naive however well-meaning effort

The colours are the brainchild of the USB Implementors Discussion board, or USB-IF, an trade group that oversees all USB requirements. Its members embrace companies like Apple, Intel, HP, and Microsoft — some fairly heavy hitters. This explains why Macs are sometimes on the vanguard of port expertise, even when Apple needed to be dragged kicking and screaming into adopting USB-C on iPhones as a substitute of Lightning. Finally it took new rules from the European Union, however I digress.

Again on matter, the colours are largely supposed to sign what information switch speeds a port is able to. In some circumstances, they’ll point out energy capabilities as properly, if not all the time the precise wattage you may be coping with. That is extraordinarily essential in the case of tablets and laptops — whereas some merchandise can cost by way of USB-C as a substitute of a devoted energy brick, you will not be capable to cost a 240W gaming laptop computer that approach if its ports max out at 100W.

There are six colours you may discover within the wild: white, black, blue, crimson, yellow, and orange. These are all steadily turning into irrelevant, although, for causes that can turn out to be clear within the subsequent part.

• White: You are unlikely to see this anymore, because it’s tied to USB 1.x — a regular that was solely round for 4 years earlier than being utterly eclipsed by USB 2.0. 1.x ports are solely able to 1.5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps), which at greatest would take over 11 minutes to switch 1GB of information. Energy is capped at 2.5W, which is barely sufficient for a mouse or keyboard.
• Black: As initially supposed (extra on this in a minute), black indicators USB 2.0 speeds as much as 480Mbps. Charging is unaffected. When doubtful, assume {that a} black port will not do any higher than 2.5W.
• Blue: This is likely one of the commonest colours you may see, flagging USB 3.0 information speeds as much as 5 gigabits per second (Gbps). Since USB 2.0 is more and more a relic of the previous, you may generally see it on equipment that don’t have anything to do with information, like moveable battery packs.
• Yellow: This can be used for each USB 2.0 and three.0 ports, which is a pointless overlap, in my view. In any occasion, the principle function is to point out help for always-on features in addition to passive energy supply. A cellphone linked to a yellow USB port ought to be capable to proceed charging even when your PC is asleep, for example.
• Orange: I’ve by no means seen this coloration in particular person, and it isn’t arduous to grasp why — this means the identical energy expertise as yellow, however solely for USB 3.0 connections. The three.0 customary continues to be very a lot round, however any fashionable {hardware} maker that cares about each information and energy might be going to make use of a more moderen customary.
• Pink: This factors to both USB 3.1 Gen 2 or USB 3.2 speeds between 10 and 20Gbps. For a measure of how fast that’s, think about that 1GB switch instance I pointed to earlier — with a 20Gbps connection (together with a suitable cable), you’ll be able to copy the identical information in about 0.4 seconds. A crimson port additionally tends to indicate always-on features, however this can be moot, since that and passive energy supply are sometimes de facto on fashionable PCs.

What about USB 4 and Thunderbolt?

An indication of the occasions

In case you’re comparatively new to the PC area, you is likely to be questioning if I am hallucinating these colours. Certainly, on the Lenovo gaming laptop computer I purchased just lately, the entire USB ports share a single coloration — black — even though they’re rated for a minimum of USB 3.0 efficiency, and one among them is a USB 4 port I exploit to connect a Thunderbolt 4 dock. The identical is true of many different computer systems, together with Apple’s Mac lineup. It does not matter if in case you have a 13-inch MacBook Air or a decked-out Mac Studio.

What provides? The reply is that the USB-IF and producers have largely deserted coloration coding, presumably as a result of few individuals had been conscious that it had any significance. There’s been nearly no promotion — I have been in tech journalism for many years, and I nonetheless needed to exit of my technique to study the issues introduced right here. It is as if the USB-IF opened a brand new retailer on the town, then puzzled why nobody bothered to point out up when the one promoting was a tiny garden signal.

One more reason for the shift is the accelerating transition to USB-C connectors, often related to USB 3.1 or later. It isn’t a lot that USB-C ports are tiny — it is that they have been multi-purpose from the beginning, so there is not any have to flag one as constructed for charging or high-speed information. Some ports will certainly carry out higher than others, however in that regard, colours could not presumably cowl all of the totally different pace and energy configurations with out turning into much more head-scratching.

As a substitute, the transfer has been towards one thing apparent: labels. My laptop computer’s 10Gbps port has that in writing, and its USB 4 connection is topped by a lightning icon, representing Thunderbolt help. All of the USB 3.0 ports are marked with the USB SuperSpeed (“SS”) emblem. I should have to verify my system’s official specs to see how a lot energy USB-C equipment can faucet, however for each different state of affairs, there is not any want to take a look at paint swatches.