6th September 2016, 9:54 PM
USB type C will be an all in one connector, but that's the key point here, it'll be universal as a connector, but not as a connection standard.
Here's the key thing to remember about alt-modes. They're optional. Manufacturers are not obligated to include support for any of the alt modes, and in practice most will at best support one or two alt modes, depending on what the manufacturer decides to implement the hardware for. In the case of Thunderbolt, every port will require an on-board device to handle it, since Thunderbolt itself doesn't support the hub style interface of USB (instead, if a Thunderbolt device wants to share a port, it implements a thunderbolt port in itself to allow a daisy chain). That's the other key point. These alt modes are entirely different operating modes from USB. In any of these alt modes, the cable will be functioning based on that alt mode's standard, not as USB.
So yes, as a connector plug, we've finally got something truly universal, but we've still got a big bunch of competing standards fighting over these ports, and there's no promise that your particular PC's USB-C connector will support HDMI or Thunderbolt or whatever.
That said, there is a fairly good chance that USB standard 3.2 might just implement Displayport as a baked in part of the USB standard, meaning any USB 3.2 port would, by necessity, also be Displayport compatible. Mind you, that doesn't mean the device the connector is part of will actually be designed to do anything with that signal, in the same way that just because you hook a mouse to a Wii it doesn't mean the Wii will have any clue what to do with one.
Here's the key thing to remember about alt-modes. They're optional. Manufacturers are not obligated to include support for any of the alt modes, and in practice most will at best support one or two alt modes, depending on what the manufacturer decides to implement the hardware for. In the case of Thunderbolt, every port will require an on-board device to handle it, since Thunderbolt itself doesn't support the hub style interface of USB (instead, if a Thunderbolt device wants to share a port, it implements a thunderbolt port in itself to allow a daisy chain). That's the other key point. These alt modes are entirely different operating modes from USB. In any of these alt modes, the cable will be functioning based on that alt mode's standard, not as USB.
So yes, as a connector plug, we've finally got something truly universal, but we've still got a big bunch of competing standards fighting over these ports, and there's no promise that your particular PC's USB-C connector will support HDMI or Thunderbolt or whatever.
That said, there is a fairly good chance that USB standard 3.2 might just implement Displayport as a baked in part of the USB standard, meaning any USB 3.2 port would, by necessity, also be Displayport compatible. Mind you, that doesn't mean the device the connector is part of will actually be designed to do anything with that signal, in the same way that just because you hook a mouse to a Wii it doesn't mean the Wii will have any clue what to do with one.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)