It's hard to imagine a world without USB ports these days. You'll find these rectangular connectors everywhere, from public charging ports at airports or cozy cafés to the side of your laptop and the bottom of your smartphone. There's also a handful of USB generations to contend with, and some of these connections even wear name tags you'll have to memorize.
Have you ever noticed a double-S emblem hanging above blue or red USB ports on a desktop PC or laptop? The SS stands for SuperSpeed, which refers to USB 3.2 (previously known as USB 3.0). The SS moniker used to be a quick way to differentiate between USB 3.x and the much slower USB 2.0 connection -- until it wasn't.
Over the last several years, USB technology has gone through some rapid evolutions, resulting in newer and faster protocols like USB4. With the introduction of this new USB standard, alongside other advancements, manufacturers eventually just stopped using the SuperSpeed descriptor. But what if you own a computer released within the last decade that still has SS ports? Does that mean you're stuck with an outdated technology? Let's take a closer look at the SS USB to find out.