Why didn't they just include it with USB4? It wasn't that long ago. But then I checked on Wiki, [2] turns out it has been three years since the release of USB4 spec 1.0.
I am not even sure if there are that many USB4 motherboard / laptop on the market. I still mostly see USB3.x labels.
And USB4 v2, at 80Gbps will be faster than Thunderbolt 4. This reminded me of Anadntech's [3] discovery of "Thunderbolt 5" and "USB 80G". So will the next version be called Thunderbolt 4 v2? If not, why not just call this new 80Gbps USB ( likely many changes in PHY ) USB5?
[1] https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/USB%20PG%20U...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB4
[3] https://www.anandtech.com/show/16858/intel-executive-posts-t...
Why not just call it USB5?
Same reason, same companies, same lobbying, which gave us USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Gen 1, USB 3.1 Gen 2, USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB 3.2 Gen 1×2, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (yes they all exist).
clap clap clap
Why did I think that USB4's versioning would be less messed up than USB 3's?