14 DAY TRIAL // Though USB 2.0 is mainstream and USB 3.0 still a niche, it seems that the latter has already gained enough popularity as to cause analysts to reach the conclusion that USB 2.0 will quite quickly lose ground to it over the next few years.
As end-users no doubt are aware, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) specification has practically become an integral part of almost all types of electronics.
To illustrate this, over three billion USB devices sold in 2009 alone, said electronics being PCs, PC peripherals, communications, automotive and, of course, consumer electronics.
Needless to say, High-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity, which allows transfers to be done at up to 480Mbps, currently dominates the industry.
This interface has also been especially successful in the digital still camera and camcorder markets, since users prefer to download their pictures or videos to their PCs instead of necessarily printing them.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that the USB 3.0 connection, the SuperSpeed standard as it is otherwise known, has already started to become widespread.
Having been launched in late 2009, it has a maximum theoretical transfer speed that is ten times higher than what USB 2.0 can accomplish, 5Gbps.
So far, this new standard has been added to PCs and certain external storage solutions, but In-Stat believes that it won't take long for it to steal more of the territory owned by High-Speed USB.
Basically, adoption of this new technology into consumer electronics like digital cameras and camcorders will be quick, accounting for 50% or 60% of the total by 2014.
The true surge in SuperSpeed adoption will take place once Intel and AMD bring out the chipsets that natively support it, in 2011.
“SuperSpeed USB can move 25GB of data in 70 seconds, the same amount of data would take nearly 14 minutes using high-speed USB, This dramatic leap in download times makes the adoption of SuperSpeed USB into digital camcorders and cameras a natural migration,” said Brian ORourke, principal analyst at In-Stat.
“We expect to see the first SuperSpeed USB camcorders hit the market in the second half of 2011,” he added.