Tech: The USB jack we've been using since 1996 could soon become obsolete

This could forever change how we connect our devices.

The time is almost up for the USB jack – called USB Type-A – that we've been using for over 2o years, as Intel finally paved the way for the new USB-C standard to take over.

On Wednesday, Intel declared that it would make its Thunderbolt 3 technology royalty-free, which gives any device manufacturer much better incentives to use the technology. Royalty-free Thunderbolt 3 will take effect "next year."

Intel's Thunderbolt 3 technology uses the USB Type-C (USB-C) standard to plug devices into computers and other peripherals.

Here's what that means for you:

It'll change the way we connect our devices.

Your external hard drives, keyboards, mice, printers, and pretty much any peripheral that's been using the standard, common USB Type A standard to connect to your computer could soon ship with a USB-C cable instead of a USB Type A cable.

If you put a USB-C and USB Type A cable side by side, you'd notice that the USB-C cable is significantly smaller overall. It's almost as small and slim as Apple's Lightning jack that's used for charging iPhones.

It's great news.

Intel's Thunderbolt 3 technology and the USB-C standard offers several benefits over the USB Type A standard. For one, it means much faster transfers between computers and external hard drives. The latest version of USB 3.1 transfers data at 10 gigabits-per-second (Gbps), while Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C can transfer data at 40Gbps. Essentially, Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C is four times as fast as USB 3.1, which uses the Type A connection.

Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C adoption also means we can use USB-C cables to connect devices that traditionally use other standards, like monitors and HDMI or DisplayPort cables, with USB-C. We could even charge and power our computers with USB-C.

And because USB-C can be used for so many different peripherals, you could use a single USB-C dock with several USB-C ports to connect all your accessories, and the dock would only use a single USB-C port on your computer. That's especially alluring for laptop users, as it would allow them to unplug a single USB-C dock instead of several connections. For example, to unplug my laptop from my desk setup, I need to unplug the power cable, monitor cable, and USB Type A dock. When USB-C becomes ubiquitous, I'll simply need to unplug a single USB-C dock.

And it could fix one of the most annoying things about regular USB.

As a bonus, the USB-C jacks can plug into your computers and devices in any direction, whereas USB Type-A had could only be connected in one direction. Gone will be the days when you try to plug in a USB device and realize it's upside down.

Growing pains.

It'll take some time for the switch from USB Type-A to Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C to become ubiquitous. People will invariably continue to use older computers that exclusively feature USB Type-A ports, even after USB-C becomes the new standard. And if someone with an older computer wants to buy a new accessory that comes with a USB-C cable, they'll have to buy some sort of adapter or dock to plug in the new accessory.

On top of that, Intel hasn't put Thunderbolt 3 support into some of its more recent processors, which means those with even fairly recent computers may not benefit from Thunderbolt 3's speeds. Intel will bake Thunderbolt 3 support into its future processors.

Apple users have a head start in the switch to the USB-C, as its latest lineup of MacBook Pro laptops only feature USB-C ports.

It's for the best.

There will surely be some growing pains as people shift towards the new Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C standard, but I'm certain it's for the best.

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