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USB holds steady as 'most successful interface ever'

By | October 17, 2011, 9:56am PDT

Summary: A new report suggests that USB-enabled devices will approach six billion by 2015.

Although HDMI is exploding as one of the default connectivity options in electronics, USB is still the strongest standard for the near future.

A new report from market research firm In-Stat asserts that USB-enabled device shipments will approach six billion in 2015. Currently, more than 3.5 billion devices with USB onboard are shipping worldwide in the PC and PC peripheral, consumer electronic, communications, and automotive product sectors, making it the “most successful interface ever.”

That’s not terribly surprising when you consider that USB has become so prevalant that it is being include next to traditional wall power sockets.

In-Stat research director Brian O’Rourke explained that SuperSpeed USB, in particular, is being integrated more quickly than anticipated thanks to the new standard on core logic chipsets:

USB will grow at over 7% through 2015 with most of that growth coming from SuperSpeed devices, particularly after 2011. Both low-/full-speed and high-speed USB will remain relevant throughout the forecast period as well. Low-/full-speed will remain the interface of choice in HIDs, and high-speed will remain in many PC peripheral and CE applications.

We should be seeing much more of SuperSpeed USB in the next few years. In-Stat reports that SuperSpeed USB will have an attach rate of 70 percent on Blu-ray players in 2013, and by 2015, 28 percent of all USB-connected products will have SuperSpeed USB power

We’re definitely shifting away from the lower end of the spectrum finally as low-speed and full-speed USB devices peaked last year with over 870 million units shipped. But in 2015, over 38 million broadband routers will still ship with high-speed USB capabilities.

Thus, it is probably safe to say that manufacturers should bet on USB when it comes to designing their products.

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Survey, USB, Marketing Research, Marketing, Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

Talkback Most Recent of 5 Talkback(s)

  • RE: USB holds steady as 'most successful interface ever'
    Erm, duh? What else should they rely on? Thunderbolt? USB is doing so well because it's standard on every computer. To change from USB is akin to trying to switch all of the US's power outlets to European versions.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Aerowind
    17th Oct
  • RE: USB holds steady as 'most successful interface ever'
    I've always been fond of USB. It has certainly sorted out the myriad jumbles of connectors a PC used to require! Remember addon cards for adapters? COM ports? Hah!

    The next step is for USB devices themselves to be capable of faster data transfer. And of course for the disks the data is transferred onto to be fast enough too. We're seeing some of these devices now, but they're not mainstream or well-priced yet.

    Next step: standardise the micro-USB port. I'm quite pleased with the curved, slightly trapezoid shaped one used on my work phone, personal phone and Kindle. It's really, really nice to be able to charge so many devices with just the one plug/cable.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Imrhien
    17th Oct
  • No its not!
    No its not! Try the humble electral outlets
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Stan57
    17th Oct
  • Legacy Of Steve Jobs
    It's worth noting that, for the first couple of years after it was introduced, USB was floundering along in spite of Intel's best efforts--PC makers were reluctant to include USB ports because there were hardly any devices around to plug into them, and device makers were reluctant to support USB because so few PCs had the ports for them to plug into.

    And then the iMac was released. And the only way to attach just about anything to it was via USB. It sold like hotcakes. And suddenly there was a market for USB devices.

    Some tried to give the credit to Windows 98 for the USB explosion. But it's worth noting that most of those early USB devices came in translucent blue and other bright colours--they were clearly designed to look good next to an iMac, not one of the beige Windows PCs of that era.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    ldo17
    17th Oct
  • RE: USB holds steady as 'most successful interface ever'
    "it is being include" - Professional journalists would never make such an unforgivable grammatical error.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    rufusthorne
    8th Dec

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