Standard USB-C Data Transfer Rate

What is the data transfer rate of standard USB-C cable (charger cable) that sold with MacBook Air M1 or with the iPad Air (4th Gen and later)?

MacBook Air (2020 or later)

Posted on Apr 7, 2022 10:28 AM

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Posted on Apr 9, 2022 6:43 PM

The Apple USB-C charging cable is only capable of USB2 speeds at best. If you want to know the maximum transfer rate of your USB-C charging cable, then measure the speed by reading data from a USB3 SSD. Almost any SSD will be more than fast enough for the test of USB2 speeds (at least when reading from an SSD) as the maximum USB2 speed is about 35-40MB/s. Reading from an SSD will give you the fastest speeds since writing to an SSD is usually slower (sometimes much much slower with low end SSDs).

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Apr 9, 2022 6:43 PM in response to Orion-way

The Apple USB-C charging cable is only capable of USB2 speeds at best. If you want to know the maximum transfer rate of your USB-C charging cable, then measure the speed by reading data from a USB3 SSD. Almost any SSD will be more than fast enough for the test of USB2 speeds (at least when reading from an SSD) as the maximum USB2 speed is about 35-40MB/s. Reading from an SSD will give you the fastest speeds since writing to an SSD is usually slower (sometimes much much slower with low end SSDs).

Apr 7, 2022 10:37 AM in response to Orion-way

Those systems are sold as chargers and the rating is in watts not Mbps or something similar.


I'd imagine their data transfer rate to be rather slow as they are not designed to optimally carry data. You can use the charging cord for a wireless keyboard to make it a USB type in function, but the data rate is still slow. Doesn't need to be fast.


If you need fast transfer speeds, don't expect one of these cords to do that.




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Standard USB-C Data Transfer Rate

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