Apple Silicon powered Macs will continue to support Thunderbolt

During WWDC 2020, Apple announced that they are moving away from Intel, and they will be using their own ARM (Apple Silicon) chips by end 2020. Despite its transition from Intel chips, Apple confirmed that the Thunderbolt connection will continue to be present in Apple Silicon Macs.

“Over a decade ago, Apple partnered with Intel to design and develop Thunderbolt, and today our customers enjoy the speed and flexibility it brings to every Mac. We remain committed to the future of Thunderbolt and will support it in Macs with Apple silicon,” said an Apple spokesperson.

The Thunderbolt is a hardware interface developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple. A single Thunderbolt port supports up to six Thunderbolt devices.

Thunderbolt 3, the port in the current latest Macs, transfers data at speeds of up to 40 Gbps, and enables your Mac to support up to four 4K displays or up to two 6K displays. A single USB-C port can also deliver power in both directions or multiple devices. Users of the new Apple Silicon Macs will still be able to continue using Thunderbolt accessories like external drives and displays.

The news comes at the same day Intel announced the Thunderbolt 4 standard, which is based on the USB-C connector that will remain present on upcoming ARM Macs. More info about Thunderbolt support in Apple Silicon Macs have still yet to be released, except that the first Mac with an ARM chip will be launched later this year. The transition of the entire Mac lineup is expected to be completed by 2022.