Connecting to Apple USB-C port with USB-A and USB 3 (USB-3) cables

The new M3 iMac spec says it has two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports and two optional USB 3 ports. The back of the computer has four Type-C (USB-C) ports, two marked with the Thunderbolt lightning and two unmarked. Based on this reference (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB) and personal experience, one would expect a USB 3.n port to be a Type-A connector with a blue insert which would be backward compatible with older ubiquitous USB Type-A connectors with the white insert. That is not the case. One must use an adaptor (i.e. USB-C to USB Adapter - Apple) to connect a USB 3 cable to the USB 3 ports on the new iMac. Am I misunderstanding or is Apple taking liberty with their naming conventions?

iMac (M3, 2023)

Posted on Dec 4, 2023 6:30 AM

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Posted on Feb 4, 2024 9:37 AM

donfromsandy wrote:

That is very interesting. Is this a curious way Apple advertises they are putting "old" electronics behind a new style port for the expected backward compatibility as well as for USB-C and/or Thunderbolt? One just needs an adaptor.

USB-C is just a connector, and some standards that devices use to figure out how to talk with each other across that connector. Even though it was created to support features that USB-A can't support, there is no guarantee that any particular USB-C port will support all of the good features.

I believe, for instance, that standards would allow one to offer a USB-C port that only supports USB protocol at USB 1.0 and 2.0 speeds! Users might consider this a cruel joke, but it is allowed.

That said, most USB-C ports (power/charging ports excepted) will support "traditional" USB of some kind. This isn't an Apple-specific thing. The goal was to offer backwards compatibility with "traditional" USB, even as the industry moved to a more modern, more capable connector.

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Connecting to Apple USB-C port with USB-A and USB 3 (USB-3) cables

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