This is what the new reversible USB 3.1 cable looks like

In December last year the technology consortium responsible for the USB standard announced that the next generation of connectors would be entirely reversible – now the first picture of the new plug has appeared online.

As expected, the new design looks pretty much identical to Apple’s Lightning connector - a proprietary standard which is also reversible and appears on the latest iPhones and iPads.

The new USB 3.1 Type-C is similar in size to the current MicroUSB design used to charge most small gadgets and will break computability with current ports.

The designs are not expected to be finalised until July and it will take many months more before manufacturers start to introduce the new Type-C to their products.

This latest update to the most widely accepted connector in the tech world will offer increased bandwidths of up to 10Gbps but for most of the clearest advantage will never having to fiddle with getting our USB plugs the right way round.