What is Thunderbolt 4?
Thunderbolt 4 is a next-generation connectivity solution designed to replace Thunderbolt 3 in supported devices.
The universal technology was introduced alongside Intel’s Tiger Lake mobile processors last year and can already be found on a number of laptops.
It allows users to transfer data, output a display and charge their device all through the same USB-C port as Thunderbolt 3, albeit with a unique label to differentiate it from the previous standard.
While Thunderbolt 4 isn’t actually faster than its predecessor (both versions of Thunderbolt transfer data at a maximum of 40 Gb/s data) there are a number of benefits over the older standard of connectivity.
Correction: Intel says that it does not charge royalty or licensing fees for the Thunderbolt specification. The company says will continue to be the case going forward with Thunderbolt 4, too. This article had originally and incorrectly stated that Intel charged licensing fees.
