Japanese consumer electronics giant, Sony, has announced the launch of a new range of flash drives as part of its USB CA1 series of consumer grade mass storage products. The USP of devices in this new lineup will be their compatibility with two different USB connectors – the traditional USB Type-A ports, as well as the latest in USB connectivity standard – USB Type-C. The flash drives will be offered in three versions – 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB. While the company is yet to announce the pricing, the devices will be officially available for purchase from next month, so it shouldn’t be long before we get more info about them. According to the press release from Sony, the CA1 range will support the USB 3.1 Generation 1 standard, thereby accounting for theoretical read speeds of up to 130 MB per second.
The Tokyo-based tech major further says that the new devices will be compatible with all the leading modern computing platforms, including Windows, Macintosh, Android and Chromebooks. All thanks to their dual connectors, which makes them compatible with a wide range of devices from desktop PCs to smartphones and tablets. While traditional desktops and laptops typically incorporate full-size USB Type-A ports, some new mobile devices like the OnePlus 2 and Google’s Chromebook Pixel support USB Type-C connectivity. According to Sony, “The USB market is developing and Sony has the storage solution dedicated to ensuring you are not losing your data between new devices … The convenient design makes it easier than ever to transport your data ready for when you need it”.
USB Type-C, of course, has been the latest buzzword in open standard connectivity over the past year or so, and even though there’s still an obvious dearth of devices that incorporate the latest standard in USB connectivity, industry watchers seem to be betting on the new standard becoming more widespread, and indeed, ubiquitous, over the next few years. Especially, now that tech majors like Google and Apple are enthusiastically embracing USB Type-C with open arms. Latest gadgets from both the Silicon Valley giants incorporate the new standard, with the newest flagship smartphones (Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X) from the former and the latest range of range of MacBooks from the latter, all featuring USB Type-C ports.
