Windows 11 24H2 officially supports USB4 80 Gbps for the first time

The USB4 v2.0 standard has been officially announced for two years, and is finally receiving official support from Windows 11.

Windows 11 24H2, just confirmed, will reportedly be the first official version of Windows to support the USB4 v2.0 standard (i.e. 80Gbps rate).

The move is an early sign of things to come. Prior to this, Microsoft was the first to release the Windows 11 Build 23615 preview update to Windows 11 Dev preview users, and this update focuses on adding support for USB v2.0 80Gbps.

In September 2022, the USB promotion organization USB-IF officially released the new USB4 2.0 standard, the new USB4 2.0 standard will be able to provide up to 80Gbps transfer speeds, compared to the previous USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 in the speed of a full double.

It also incorporates the latest DP and PCIe standard content, allowing compatibility with existing USB4, USB3.2, USB2.0 and Thunderbolt 3.

With the performance of USB4 2.0, future laptops will be able to output 8K/120Hz display signals directly, and for high-speed hard disks, graphics card docking stations and other devices that rely on data channels, it may be possible to access the computer with nearly no performance loss.