Skip to main content

Future Apple Silicon Macs will still have Thunderbolt ports

Thunderbolt ports have been a Mac feature for years — long before the technology came to Windows. In spite of parting ways with Intel on silicon for the Mac, Apple has announced it will continue to work with Intel to continue to ship Macs — even future ones with custom Apple silicon — with Thunderbolt ports.

“Over a decade ago, Apple partnered with Intel to design and develop Thunderbolt, and today our customers enjoy the speed and flexibility it brings to every Mac,” Apple’s statement to The Verge read. “We remain committed to the future of Thunderbolt and will support it in Macs with Apple silicon.”

MacBook Air 2020 ports
Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

After Apple had made the announcement that it will be migrating away from Intel’s x86 platform in favor of its own custom ARM-based silicon, developers and enthusiasts were wary what the move may mean for the future of Thunderbolt on the Mac.

Notably, the Mac Mini development kit that debuted at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2020 did not ship with Thunderbolt 3 ports and instead relies on standard USB-C connectivity, whereas the Intel-based Mac Mini available for purchase today comes with four Thunderbolt 3 over USB-C ports. Thunderbolt is also not currently available on other Apple Silicon devices, such as the iPad Pro.

Thunderbolt 3 is currently supported on nearly all of Apple’s Mac lineup, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, iMac, and Mac Pro.

With Apple’s confirmation that Thunderbolt will survive the Intel divorce, developers and Mac supporters won’t have much to worry about in this regard.

Apple’s statement that it will support Thunderbolt on future Macs regardless of silicon architecture comes on the heels of Intel’s Thunderbolt 4 announcement. Thunderbolt 4 will utilize the same miniature oblong connector port as Thunderbolt 3 but will also work with USB4 and offer extra benefits, like the ability to support either dual 4K UHD displays or a single 8K monitor.

Intel says Thunderbolt 4 will initially debut with Tiger Lake laptops, many of which will fall under the Project Athena specifications, though it will later release chips to PC manufacturers to offer Thunderbolt 4 on other systems.

For its part, Apple did not state whether it will use Thunderbolt 3 or the newer Thunderbolt 4 specifications when it debuts Macs with its own custom silicon for consumer purchase. Both Thunderbolt 3 and 4 will support the same 40Gbps data transfer speeds, making them faster alternatives to the 20Gbps USB4 specifications.

Editors' Recommendations

Chuong Nguyen
Silicon Valley-based technology reporter and Giants baseball fan who splits his time between Northern California and Southern…
Why gaming on the M3 MacBook Air has left me impressed
Baldur's Gate 3 being played on the M3 MacBook Air.

Upon getting the new MacBook Air M3 in my possession, I had one major question: Can you play games on it?

That might sound like a silly first thought for a laptop of this type. After all, it's not marketed as a gaming laptop -- it's an incredibly thin, fanless laptop. Not exactly something even meant for any high-performance tasks.

Read more
What is Thunderbolt, and is it different from USB-C?
Dell XPS 15 9560 review

Thunderbolt is a type of hardware interface technology that is used to connect various devices to a PC. You've likely already seen Thunderbolt in the form of its distinctive ports and cables -- the latest generations use the USB-C connector. That's the quick definition. But if you're here, you're probably looking for a more comprehensive explanation of what Thunderbolt is, and why it differs from USB-C.

In this guide, that's exactly what you'll get: We'll go over some of its current iterations and how they compare, how Thunderbolt is different from USB-C, how to identify Thunderbolt ports, and find out the latest on when Thunderbolt 5 will launch. Now let's take a closer look at Thunderbolt.

Read more
RIP to Apple’s most important MacBook
MacBook Air 2020

Today, Apple said goodbye to what has been the most important MacBook in recent memory. The M1 MacBook Air is longer being sold by Apple, having been replaced by the M2 MacBook Air directly, which itself has been bumped down the product line by the new M3 models.

Now almost three-and-a-half years old, it was certainly time for this laptop to head into the sunset. It uses an old chassis and a fairly old chip, and it was no longer competitive at $999.

Read more