Intel today introduced the upcoming Thunderbolt technology that will come with future Macs in 2023.
Dubbed ‘Next Generation of Thunderbolt’, Intel says that the connection offers up to 80 Gbps of data transfer speed both ways, effectively doubling the load on external storage drives and future Macs that support it.
Also, the next-gen Thunderbolt will allow for a maximum of 120 Gbps of transfer on external displays, which means Macs could support up to two 8K displays running at 60Hz refresh rate.
In comparison, current MacBook Pros come with USB 4 or Thunderbolt 4 and allow only up to 40 Gbps of data transfer either way. It’s worth noting that there’s no Mac that can connect to an 8K display, and they’re limited only to two or three displays at 6K and 60Hz refresh rate, depending if the machine has the M1 Max or the M1 Pro chip.
Intel says more details about the next-generation Thunderbolt will be revealed in 2023.
