Many people will consider the USB4 cable's powerful performance and fast speed when discussing it. Why then is it able to be so good? Query Solver will tear down this USB4 cable to see what's inside.
Table of Contents
USB4 Cable Unboxing
- Firstly, there is a woven cable, which has a longer service life.
- Both sides are marked with something. One side is printed with a USB4 logo and 40GB per second. The other side will be 5A and 100W.
- USB-C port adopts a full-pin design.
- The end has been protected to improve its durability.
- The outer woven is black and white across the fiber. Feels very soft and good.
- The length of the cable is about 74cm.
- Using POWER-Z KM001C, we found this cable has an E-Marker chip.
- Maximum power is 20V 5A 100W.
- The protocol of data transmission is USB4 Gen3, 40Gbps.
Difference & Comparison
We know some of you may be a little bit confused about the difference between Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, and USB4. So, here is the comparison chart for you.
Thunderbolt 4 has higher certification standards than Thunderbolt 3. Maybe you have heard half-speed Thunderbolt 3. But for Thunderbolt 4, its speed must be 40Gbps.
Compared to Thunderbolt 4, USB4 is more compatible, which also means lower requirements. In addition, Thunderbolt 4 requires an authorization fee. While USB4 is completely free.
Testing
Next test its actual performance. Firstly, try to charge some devices. MacBook Pro 16 inches can be 88W. The input power of a 100W power bank is 92W. Then, the writing speed is about 1243MBps. The read speed is about 2531MBps.
Also Read:
Teardown of Apple Thunderbolt 4 Pro USB-C Cable (1M)| Apple Cable
FRAMEWORK 180 watt USB-C Power Adapter Review and Test
Teardown of Apple Thunderbolt 4 Pro USB-C Cable (1M)| Apple Cable
Teardown - PCB
Okay, let's go ahead and tear it down. Firstly, remove the shell. A layer of protective metal shell is below.
And remove it as well. A layer of thermal adhesive covers the PCB and removes it. The welding spot between the cable and PCB has been reinforced by injection modeling.
After cleaning the multi-color cores, we can see arco-axial cables. There is an E-Marker chip on the other side, which comes from VIA Labs VL153. And then, let's see the other side. There isn't a chip.
Teardown - Cores
Then, let's cut it off. And then, remove the outer layer and the black layer. There are metal shells and insulating paper under the black layer.
Remove them all. 16 colorful cores in total. The data transmission core is composed of white and green. The other one is bare ground wire wrapped in aluminum foil. Then cut the white and green cores. The tinned copper wires are inside.
Then the outer layer of the thick core is copper foil and shielding layer. It adopts copper wire to transfer data and is covered with an insulating tube to form the coaxial cable. Used for high-frequency and high-speed differential signal transmission. Other thick cores also adopt similar designs. As for the thinner cores, only tinned copper wires are inside. Other thin cores also adopt similar designs.
Conclusion
Well, for this standard USB4 cable, we can see it's quite different from other ordinary cables. There are 12 thick coaxial cables out of 16 cores. They will cooperate with the eMarker chip to achieve high speed and multifunctions. Ok, that will be all for today's post. Hope you like it.
