The USB-Implementer's Forum has upgraded the USB Type-C 2.1 power delivery specification to support up to 240W. Currently, the maximum power for USB Type-C 2.1 is 100W, which is not enough power for many large devices. Increasing the voltage from 20V to 48V should give manufacturers enough room to make USB Type-C a truly universal charging standard. [This is a huge boon for gaming laptop manufacturers, or rather for us gamers who have to juggle many different power bricks. The idea of being able to reach out to common USB Type-C power bricks is amazingly exciting. No, really.

Many thin and light laptops manage to use USB Type-C connectors, but these tend to be well below 100W, and 65W chargers are surprisingly common. However, a serious high-end CPU and discrete graphics card will quickly require 200W or more.

Indeed, 240W may even be restrictive for some of the more extreme laptops, but there are always exceptions and exceptional machines with ridiculous power requirements. A universal standard might calm things down a bit, but it would not be surprising to find machines with two chargers.

It will take a while for manufacturers to start implementing the new standard and comply with the new specifications. Manufacturers will need to comply with the USB PD Extended Power Range (EPR) specification. Cabling will of course need to comply as well, and will need to support up to 50V.