How Much Faster Is USB-C 3.1 vs 2.0 in Android Phones?

howtogeek.com:

The jump from USB-C 2.0 to USB 3.2 may seem small, but in reality, they are worlds apart for data transferring between Android devices. The difference is easy to overlook—USB-C standard can help you make a more informed purchase, especially when you're stuck between two similar choices.

USB-C 3.2 vs USB-C 2.0

All USB-C ports might look alike, but they are not created equal. If you tear down any USB-C connector, you'll see 24 conductive pins. Not all of these pins are active links (for power delivery or data transfer), but USB-C 2.0 has fewer live pins than USB-C 3.2. More active links mean extra points for faster data transfers.

Courtesy of those extra links, USB-C 3.2 can deliver data transfer speeds of up to 20Gbps while USB-C 2.0 crawls at a measly 480Mbps. The USB-C 3.2 technology arrived in September 2017 to replace the USB 3.1 standard. You’ll find it inside most premium Android phones and tablets. Budget and mid-range devices, on the other hand, are still stuck on USB-C 2.0.

As I'll demonstrate through testing, if you move data around often, USB-C 3.2 is a must-have. It’s always worth paying attention to the USB specifications of your phone or tablet. Sometimes, even prenium models don’t use the latest USB-C standard. Suffice to say USB can get complicated.

Testing Setup

In theory, USB-C 3.2 should be at least 10 times faster than its 2.0 counterpart. Testing those speeds in real-world settings seems simple enough. Just transfer a test file to and from a device, and jot down the elapsed time.

But to make the tests reliable, I’ll need to make sure no storage bottlenecks are hobbling the transfers. I used two Android devices and a portable Samsung hard drive for my testing setup. Here are the specs for each.

1. Samsung Galaxy Tab S7: USB-C 3.2 and UFS 3.1
2. Infinix Zero X Neo: USB-C 2.0 and UFS 2.1
3. Samsung SM 841 Portable SSD: Read and write speeds of up to 500Mbps

I ran internal storage speed tests on both Android devices using the Cross Platform