Thunderbolt 3 To Offer 40 Gbps Transfers, USB Type-C Connector

Intel has announced that they will be abandoning their traditional Thunderbolt connector with the upcoming Thunderbolt 3 specification. Instead, this high transfer speed technology will use a USB Type-C connector.

Thunderbolt 3 will still be able to support transfer speeds of 40 Gbps all while going through a USB Type-C connection. Offering 40 Gbps will allow a single Thunderbolt 3 connection to power dual 4K displays at 60Hz. With using the new connector, Thunderbolt 3 is to support the USB 3.1 specification. Thunderbolt 3 also allows for 100 Watt charging and continues to support DisplayPort, PCI Express, and USB protocols over the same link.

While Thunderbolt 3 may sound exciting and perhaps Thunderbolt finally start taking off, Thunderbolt 3 products won't become widely available until next year.

More details from the Thunderbolt Technology blog post.