Thunderbolt 5, a new version coming?

What is Thunderbolt and what is it for?

Developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple way back in 2011, Thunderbolt technology performs the important task of making connections between different devices that share the USB Type C port simpler and faster. A single cable with the function of transmitting information, but also providing energy to the devices connected to it.

From the Twitter profile of Gregory Bryant , general manager of Intel's Client Computing Group, some information has leaked on what could be the

future of Thunderbolt 4 . A poster initially photographed in Israel's Intel labs, and later deleted, reveals some important information. Bandwidth is the main protagonist of this change, it is estimated that it can reach double the bandwidth compared to the current Thunderbolt. But let's proceed step by step.

Currently the latest version on the market, Thunderbolt 4, reaches astonishing data transmission speeds, up to 40 Gbps, among the highest around. But the real challenge for Intel comes now: will it really be possible to double performance by going from 40 Gbps to 80 Gbps ?

Thunderbolt 4 can already support two 4K 60Hz monitors or one monitor with 8K resolution, the new version will be aimed at 8K and above and, also from the point of view of external storage media, it will be interesting to follow its evolution. Both SSDs and other types of memories increase their performance in terms of speed every year.

When talking about technological products, one of the important factors to keep in mind is backward compatibility . For this reason, the attention of Intel engineers, at the moment, remains focused on USB-C type connectors, which are widely used. However, if Thunderbolt 4 is equivalent to fourth generation USB, will we first have to wait for the release of the fifth generation of USB to see Thunderbolt 5?

As we have just seen, Intel has many good intentions for the future of Thunderbolt. There would also appear to be an intention to further push this type of interconnection on the mobile front .

Although Thunderbolt 5 is already in development, there are no predictions regarding its release. How much longer will we have to wait?