The reason why some USB ports are black

As with most USB colors, it indicates the port’s capabilities. At least it should.

By Thomas Godwin Nov. 3, 2026 8:45 am EST s880/Shutterstock Add Engadget on Google: Google Discover

In most cases (not all), a black USB port denotes a USB 2.0 connection, also known as Hi-Speed USB, which supports data transfer rates up to 480 Mbps. However, as our previous articles on orange and purple USB ports noted, this is not an industry standard. It's a common convention, sure, but a black USB 2.0 port on one PC doesn't mean another PC's black USB port is also USB 2.0.