USB Type-C to feature DisplayPort video and audio, support for 4K, 5K resolution

By Konrad Krawczyk Published September 23, 2014

VESA just announced that, as part of a partnership with the USB 3.0 Promoter Group, the upcoming USB Type-C standard will have the ability to deliver DisplayPort audio and video, with support for resolutions of 4K and higher.

Related: DisplayPort 1.3 announced, supports 5K monitors

Recommended Videos

Dubbed “DisplayPort Alt Mode,” VESA says that it will be compatible with adapters that support existing DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, and VGA-enabled displays. So, once USB Type-C with DisplayPort lands, your current/old monitors and screens won’t get left out in the cold.

When using USB Type C cables and connectors for their DisplayPort feature, you’ll still be able to transmit data through them, VESA says. DisplayPort Alt Mode can transmit data through as little as one or two of the four USB lanes. This frees up the other lanes for data transmission tasks.

So, for example, you could use DisplayPort Alt Mode with a 4K monitor, while also sending data back and forth at speeds as fast as 10GB/s. If DisplayPort Alt Mode uses all four data lanes, it can power 5K monitors while also offering data speeds that are equivalent to USB 2.0.

Related: USB Type-C devices coming “by early 2015”

“DisplayPort has played a vital role in advancing display performance and connectivity for platforms that are increasingly integrated and compact,” VESA exec Craig Wiley says.

On top of all this, USB Type-C will be able to deliver up to 100-watts of power, along with the aforementioned data transfer rates of 10GB/s, which will leave USB 3.0 in the dust.

It’s rumored that the un-announced 12-inch MacBook Air with Retina could include USB Type-C connectors.

Konrad Krawczyk

Former Computing Editor

Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…

Topics

QuickCharge: This Week in EV

Computing

Microsoft has begun rolling out Copilot Code for building apps with natural language

The workplace-focused vibe coding tool can pull context from emails, documents, meetings, and chats.

Microsoft introduced Code last month as one of the three core parts of its revamped Copilot app. The app was pitched as an easy-to-use coding agent that lets users describe what they want to build in natural language, like an app, a tracker, a dashboard, an automation, or a workflow, and Copilot would build it for them.

Essentially, it's a workplace-focused vibe-coding app that turns existing work into a functional app, and Microsoft has begun rolling it out through the Frontier program.

Computing

AI agents are acting like rogues and causing a huge headache for US banks

US banks block AI agents over fears they could make unauthorised financial moves

Banking

US banks are facing a new kind of digital headache: artificial intelligence agents attempting to access customer accounts and perform actions that may go beyond what users intended. As AI tools become more capable of navigating websites and carrying out tasks independently, financial institutions are scrambling to prevent them from crossing security boundaries.

According to a report published by Axios on October 22, major US banks have detected third-party AI agents operating inside customer accounts without authorisation. Some agents reportedly appeared to attempt actions independently of user instructions. The banks involved have not publicly detailed every incident, and there is no evidence that the reported activity resulted in widespread theft of customer funds.

Computing

Canva enters the AI image generation race with Craft, and it’s thinking beyond pretty pictures

The new model plans layouts before generating images, with precise editing and support for 30 aspect ratios.

Canva Craft Featured Image

AI can generate all kinds of pretty pictures, but getting it to spell a headline correctly or keep a poster's layout intact can be another story. Canva wants to fix that with Canva Craft, its first in-house image generation model. Rather than focusing primarily on photographs, Craft is designed around the posters, presentations, social media graphics, and other visual content people actually create. The goal is simple: spend less time fixing AI's mistakes and more time making something useful.

Canva Craft plans before it generates