IT abroad: Mobile devices to get USB 3.0 ports by year end

USB 3.0 ports will reach smartphones and tablets by the end of the year or early next year, announced Rahman Ismail – chief technology officer of USB Implementers Forum during the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show.

MicroUSB 3.0 ports will enable faster data transfer between mobile devices and host devices such as PCs, some of which already have USB 3.0 ports. The data transfer rates will likely be 100 megabytes per second – much faster than mobile devices which currently use the older USB 2.0 technology.

"What takes 15 minutes will roughly take more than 1 minute," Rahman Ismail said.

He also said that the organization was looking to reduce the size of current 3.0 ports as laptops become thinner.