The upcoming USB-C 2.1 standard will support up to 240 Watts — a large increase from the 100 Watts that the current USB-C Power Delivery (PD) standard supports. USB-C PD has really changed the way that we connect and power devices by combining high current carrying capacity with USB data lines.
This resulted in fewer devices having to use separate cables for power and data (signal cables). Prior to USB-C, smaller electronics were already powered by the same USB cables they used to transfer data. However, larger devices such as laptops and monitors couldn’t derive their power from USB until the USB-C PD standard came along.
Now the upcoming standard will enable USB-C to power not only small laptops and cameras, but also high-wattage gaming laptops and large 4K monitors. This will be especially convenient for power users that tend to use multiple large monitors and high performance laptops. Theoretically, they could eliminate several power cables from their setups if using several different USB-C 2.1 devices.
