🔮USB-C vs HDMI - which one wins?

Let's talk technology for a moment.

USB-C and HDMI are two common types of cables used to connect devices to monitors and televisions. Today, it is strongly believed that the USB-C cable will replace HDMI in the future. It's true that it sounds good on paper: it's multi-purpose, as you can use it to charge your device, transfer data, view images, listen to audio, and use a mouse. The internet also works through it.

However, the USB-C cable is a strong candidate for the future standard, although there is still room for development in its use. For example, USB-C cables are still susceptible to interference and its compatibility issues are unfortunately common because the technology is still in the development stage.

USB-C is said to be an excellent cable for several reasons. It is said to have a higher data transfer rate than HDMI cables, which means that USB-C can transfer large amounts of high-resolution data faster and more efficiently.

Although the USB-C cable is the standard of the future, especially for sharing 8K images, the world will still be 4K for a while. How far a USB-C cable can be used depends on many factors. There are indeed differences in the cables and only some can manage to transfer a very high-quality image over long distances. For example, in our own tests, we have been able to get a 4K image in a USB-C cable five meters away at full resolution, and some USB-C cables already promise a 16K image, but the cables in question are only 1 meter long. For comparison, with an active HDMI cable, you can connect the screen from a distance of up to 50 meters - with an optical cable, from a distance of up to 100 meters with 4K resolution.

Challenges are also caused by the fact that some computers do not yet support two external monitors. For example, using both a USB-C cable and an HDMI cable at the same time often leads to problems. There are several reasons: for example, some computers do not accept or cannot run two external monitors, so an HDMI cable may be necessary in such situations.

Even though it has been pointed out here that HDMI wins in many ways right now, USB-C is still the standard of the (near) future for several reasons. It is simply a very versatile cable that can transfer not only video, but also audio, charge devices and access the Internet. This means that USB-C can be used to connect multiple devices with a single cable, such as external displays, speakers, and other USB devices. This reduces the number of cables on the table in meetings or other situations where there is a need to connect several devices. For the user, this is very important - and HDMI cannot do that.