While D-PHY is more mature, it is often compared to C-PHY, which uses a 3-wire "trio" instead of a 2-wire differential lane. Design And Reuse MIPI D-PHY v2.0 MIPI C-PHY v1.0 Max Data Rate 4.5 Gbps / lane ~5.7 Gbps / trio 2 wires (Differential) 3 wires (Trio) Forwarded (Dedicated clock lane) Embedded (Self-clocking) Complexity Lower (Legacy industry standard) Higher (Symbols-based encoding) Typical Applications High-Res Imaging : Connecting camera sensors for AI vision and 4K/8K recording. panels with high refresh rates (90Hz or 120Hz). Automotive
D-PHY v2.0 remains the dominant topology for mainstream mobile sensors due to its simpler logic controller and lower latency for short bursts.
uses a three-phase symbol encoding scheme that doesn’t require a separate clock lane.