Thunderbolt 5 cables are now available (though no devices with TB5 ports yet)

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When Thunderbolt 4 was introduced in 2020, it introduced support for many new features, including support for high-speed connections over longer cables and guaranteed support for up to two 4K displays or one 8K display. However, data transfer speeds peaked at 40 Gbps, equal to Thunderbolt 3, which was available since 2015.

Lightning 5 is significantly faster, with support for bi-directional data rates of up to 80Gbps and asynchronous video speeds of up to 120Gbps for up to two 6K or 8K displays. Although the Thunderbolt 5 standard was approved in September 2023, so far there are no computers or other devices with Thunderbolt 5 ports. But now Power buy a Thunderbolt 5 cable.

Cable Matters has introduced the world’s first Thunderbolt 5 cables available in three lengths:

According to Cable Matters, all three cables support bi-directional data transfer speeds of up to 80 Gbps or up to 120 Gbps for video output, enabling support for:

Up to three 4K displays with a refresh rate of 144 Hz
Up to one display with a refresh rate of 540 Hz

The cables also support charging power of up to 240W when used with a power supply of this capacity.

However, since there aren’t any Thunderbolt 5-enabled devices on the market yet, you’ll likely have to wait a while to take full advantage of these cables. Fortunately, they are also backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, and USB4, so you can use these cables with any devices that meet these standards. You’ll simply be limited to the slower loading and data speeds these standards allow.

So it’s probably good to know that you can buy a future-proof cable today. But I suspect the bigger news is that now that the first Thunderbolt 5-compatible cables have arrived, it’s only a matter of time before the first Thunderbolt 5-enabled computers join them.

	Lightning 5	Lightning 4	Thunderbolt 3	USB4
Universal USB-C port	✓	✓	✓	–
Required speed for cables up to 2 meters long	120 Gb/s (asynchronous) 80 Gbps (bidirectional)	40 Gbps	–	20Gbps
Accessories with up to 4 Thunderbolt ports	✓	✓	–	Optional
Minimum computer speed required	80 Gb/s (bidirectional) Transmit 120 Gbps / receive 40 Gbps (aysnc for video)	40 Gbps	40Gbps	20Gbps (40Gbps is optional)
Minimum Video Requirements for Your Computer	2 6K displays (mandatory) 2 8K displays (optional)	2x4K displays Or 1x8K display	1 4K display	1 display (no minimum resolution)
Minimum Computer Data Requirements	PCIe 64Gb/s	PCIe 32Gb/s USB 3.2 10Gbps	PCIe 16Gb/s USB 3.2 10 Gb/s	USB 3.2 10 Gb/s
Computer charging port required	At least one up to 140W Supports up to 240W	At least one up to 140W Supports up to 240W	–	–
Waking up your computer from sleep mode with the TB Docking Station connected	Required	Required	–	–
Min. PC port power for accessories	15W	15W	15W	7.5W
Thunderbolt network	64Gbps	32Gbps	16 Gbps	–
Mandatory certification of computers and accessories	✓	✓	✓	–
DMA protection based on Intel VT-d technology required	✓	✓	–	–
USB4 Specification	Compatible	Compatible	Compatible	Compatible

press release

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