Intel announces Thunderbolt 4

Intel today announced details on the next version of Thunderbolt 4, which will be released later this year.

While Thunderbolt 4 will not offer improvements over the maximum transfer speed (40 Gb / s) offered by Thunderbolt 3, there are some notable improvements such as universal cables up to two meters long without resorting to non-standard active cables. be compatible with docks and other accessories with up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports (one upstream and three downstream) and more.

Thunderbolt 4 certification requirements include:

• Double the minimum data and video requirements compared to Thunderbolt 3.
  • Video: Supports up to two 4K monitors or one 8K monitor.
  • Data: 32Gbps PCIe which will provide disk write speeds of up to 3.000MBps.
• Compatible with docks with up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports.
• PC loaded in at least one of the computer ports.
• Wake the computer from sleep by tapping the keyboard or mouse when connected to a Thunderbolt dock.
• Mandatory Direct Memory Access (DMA) protection based on Intel VT-d that helps prevent physical attacks on DMA.

Thunderbolt 4 ports and cables are fully compatible and usable with USB4, Thunderbolt 3, and other USB standards, and still use the same physical USB-C connector design.

Thunderbolt 4 will arrive first on Intel's Tiger Lake processors and 8000 series controller chips later this year.

Apple has stated that it will continue to support Thunderbolt 4 on its computers.