Intel Turns To USB Type-C For Thunderbolt 3

It would make sense that companies would want to introduce proprietary connectors since it gives them more control in the market, but sometimes these attempts fail as users are unwilling to adopt them, kind of like FireWire which wasn’t as popular as many thought it would be, and the Thunderbolt connector which Apple tried to introduce in its Mac computers.

While Intel is not giving up on Thunderbolt anytime soon, it seems that the company at the very least admits that maybe it could use some help which is why at Intel’s keynote at Computex, the company announced that Thunderbolt 3 would unify its ports with the USB Type-C standard.

What this means is that in the future, Thunderbolt devices will use the USB Type-C connector so that users of the new 12-inch MacBook and the new Google Chromebook Pixel 2 won’t have to worry about buying adapters as it should fit in the Type-C ports just fine. According to Intel, the new single cable will offer data transfer speeds up to 40 gigabits per second while still being able to supply power.

This would essentially allow support for 4K video and single-cable docking. It will also be able to deliver 10-gigabit Ethernet networking. That being said, don’t expect to see these new Thunderbolt 3 devices anytime soon. According to Intel, the first devices that will support the new unified port will ship by the end of 2015 and will start becoming more common in 2016.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Computers
Tags: Intel, thunderbolt, USB