Cable Matters, a leader in providing top-tier connectivity solutions, today announced the launch of its groundbreaking Thunderbolt 5 cable manufactured by Lintes Technology Co., Ltd. The cable is available in 3 different lengths: 1 foot, 1.6 feet and 3.3 feet. This latest innovation delivers unparalleled performance, supporting up to 80 Gbps of bi-directional data transfer and up to 120 Gbps of video bandwidth, a substantial leap from the previous Thunderbolt 4 technology.

The new Thunderbolt 5 cable by Cable Matters represents a significant advancement in connectivity technology, offering increased bandwidth and power delivery capabilities. The Bandwidth Boost technology enables the cable to transmit up to 120 Gbps for the best display experience, providing up to 3 times increase over Thunderbolt 4's maximum bandwidth. This enhancement is particularly beneficial for demanding applications such as high-resolution video streaming, extensive data transfer, and high-speed gaming.

Other World Computing (OWC)—the leading end-to-end ecosystem solution provider of computer hardware, accessories, and software for both consumers and professionals - demonstrated three new cutting-edge Thunderbolt 5 devices at CES and Pepcom - two state-of-the-art multiport docks and a bus-powered portable storage solution - all powered by the latest Thunderbolt technology from Intel. For over a decade, OWC has led the way in creating innovative Thunderbolt solutions and that tradition continues with solutions designed to harness the lightning-fast data transfer rates and high-resolution display support of Thunderbolt 5. The new docking and storage solutions will quickly become the focal point for user's computer setups and workflows.

"We've been at the forefront, embracing new Thunderbolt technologies early on, and take pride in providing the most extensive range of Thunderbolt solutions globally," said Larry O'Connor, Founder and CEO of OWC. "Introducing Thunderbolt 5 to our customers is an exciting venture, enabling us to create even more innovative products."

Thunderbolt 5 is almost upon us. The new specification offers 80 Gbps bi-directional transfers, with up to 120 Gbps per-direction through lane asymmetry. The new Thunderbolt 5 + 8K60 Display Docking Station from j5create (model: JTD5172) takes advantage of Thunderbolt 5 to wire out next-gen connectivity. It plugs into one Thunderbolt 5 upstream port, putting out three downstream Thunderbolt 5. Each of the three double up as USB. You also have four type-A USB 3.2 ports, two each of 10 Gbps and 5 Gbps. When connected to a 2-pin power brick, the dock puts out a high-powered USB-PD 3.1 port with 140 W delivery. An SD/microSD 4.0 card reader, stereo audio through 4-pole 3.5 mm jack, and a 2.5 GbE wired networking interface make for the rest of it.

Intel has demonstrated an early prototype of next-generation Thunderbolt in action, aligned to the USB Implementers Forum's (USB-IF) release of the USB4 v2 specification this week. Next-generation Thunderbolt will deliver 80 gigabits per second (Gbps) of bi-directional bandwidth and enable up to 120 Gbps for the best display experience, providing up to three times the capability of today's technologies to meet the growing needs of content creators and gamers, all while maintaining compatibility with previous versions of Thunderbolt and USB.

"Intel has always been the industry pioneer and leader for wired connectivity solutions, and Thunderbolt is now the mainstream port on mobile PCs and integrated into three generations of Intel mobile CPUs. We're very excited to lead the industry forward with the next generation of Thunderbolt built on the USB4 v2 specification, advanced to this next generation by Intel and other USB Promoter Group members," said Jason Ziller, general manager of the Client Connectivity Division at Intel.

USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), the support organization for the advancement and adoption of USB technology, today announced the publication of the USB4 Version 2.0 specification, a major update to enable USB 80 Gbps performance over the USB Type-C cable and connector. The updated USB4 specification doubles the maximum aggregate bandwidth of USB to the benefit of higher-performance displays, storage, and USB-based hubs and docks. The USB Type-C and USB Power Delivery (USB PD) specifications have also been updated to support this higher level of data performance.

"For engineers, USB4 is defined by its multi-protocol tunneling that architecturally differentiates it from its predecessors - USB 3.2 and USB 2.0," said Brad Saunders, USB-IF Board Chair and CEO. "This updated technical specification extends USB4 speed and data protocol performance, enabling manufacturers to develop products that can deliver USB 80 Gbps in addition to existing USB 40 Gbps and USB 20 Gbps to end users."

It was only yesterday that the USB Promoters Group announced the USB4 Version 2.0 spec with support for speeds of up to 80 Gbps, something TechPowerUp mentioned at the end of our USB4 article back in June. Now details of a 120 Gbps asymmetric mode has popped up, courtesy of Angstronomics and we've managed to confirm that it is indeed something that is coming from one of our own sources. We were in fact told back in June that the 80 Gbps mode was meant to be asymmetric, but this was not mentioned in the recent press release.

The 120 Gbps mode will use three of the four data pairs for upstream data and the fourth 40 Gbps data pair will be for downstream data from and to the host controller.Asymmetric data transfers are nothing new over USB Type-C cables, as the DP Alt Mode is already taking advantage of this. This is possible because USB4 Version 2.0 will move to PAM3 (Pulse-Amplitude Modulation) data encoding from today's 64/66- or 128/132-bit encoding. The next generation of Thunderbolt is also expected to use PAM3 encoding to reach the rumoured 80 Gbps speeds that were posted somewhat by mistake by an Intel executive last year.