Intel has demonstrated an early prototype of its next-generation Thunderbolt technology to coincide with usb.org’s release of the USB4 v2 specifications. Next-gen Thunderbolt doubles bi-directional bandwidth to 80 Gbps (gigabits per second) and enables up to 120 Gbps transfers for monitors and other displays in order, “To meet the growing needs of content creators and gamers, all while maintaining compatibility with previous versions of Thunderbolt and USB.”
Jason Ziller, GM of Intel’s Client Connectivity Division said, “Intel has always been the industry pioneer and leader for wired connectivity solutions, and Thunderbolt is now the mainstream port on mobile PCs and integrated into three generations of Intel mobile CPUs. We’re very excited to lead the industry forward with the next generation of Thunderbolt built on the USB4 v2 specification, advanced to this next generation by Intel and other USB Promoter Group members.”
What’s the difference between USB-C and Thunderbolt?
If you’re one of the many people who don’t yet understand the difference between USB and Thunderbolt but, at this point, are too afraid to ask, here’s a quick, heavily generalised backgrounder:
USB-C is a type of port that is used to connect cables that transfer power and data. Its specification is defined by the USB Promoter Group at usb.org.
Thunderbolt was developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple but is now free to use by the whole industry. It’s been designed to be a ‘single, do-everything connection’ that transfers data, video and power all at once using a USB-C port.
Thunderbolt initially added multiple bells and whistles (with guaranteed performance) to USB’s ‘basic’ data-transfer and power delivery capabilities (that had options which led do variable performance). These Thunderbolt improvements included doubled data-transfer speeds, more power delivery, plus dedicated bandwidth for external displays, peripherals and even external graphics cards.
When USB-C first appeared in 2015, Intel worked with the USB Promoter Group to bake the capabilities of Thunderbolt into the next USB specification. This led to the USB4 specification being based upon Thunderbolt 3 technology.
USB4-compatible USB-C ports have only recently started to appear on laptops. However, Thunderbolt 4 ports adorn many current-gen laptops (Thunderbolt 4 is built-into 11th Gen and 12th Gen Intel processors) and iterate on Thunderbolt 3 (which was built into 10th Gen Intel processors) by adding faster speeds and more power. AMD-based laptops have only recently started adding USB4 ports but this gives them the performance benefits of Thunderbolt 3.
Today’s announcement is about what’s on the horizon for next-gen Thunderbolt technology – which will probably be called Thunderbolt 5 and subsequently also appear as part of a future USB6 specification. Everything will still use USB-C ports (the EU has mandated a single connector type for charging all electronics which is likely going to be USB-C) but not all cables will be created equal – only expensive, short, high-quality, Thunderbolt-certified USB-C cables will be able to transmit maximum power and data rates.
Next-gen Thunderbolt
Intel added that next-gen Thunderbolt would deliver up to 3x capabilities of Thunderbolt 4 and that, in addition to supporting the latest version of USB4, it would include:
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• Double the 40 Gbps bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 to 80 Gbps, while providing up to three times the bandwidth to 120 Gbps for video-intensive usage
• Support for DisplayPort 2.1
• Double the PCI Express data throughput for faster storage and external graphics
• Compatibility with existing passive cables up to 1m in length via a new signalling technology
• Compatibility with previous versions of Thunderbolt, USB and DisplayPort
Intel’s announcement came by way of a demonstration that sought to address, “The bandwidth needs of content creators and gamers [which] are increasing significantly for high-resolution displays, low latency visuals and the backup or transfer of huge video and data files.”
Last Updated on 9 June 2023 by Nick Ross
