Fiber-optic communications
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| October 2024 |
Thunderbolt
Apple announced Mac Mini (M4 Pro, 2024) and 14-inch and 16-inch Macbook Pro (M4 Pro/Max, 2024) models, which feature three Thunderbolt 5 ports.
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| September 2024 |
Thunderbolt
Intel introduces the Barlow Ridge family Thunderbolt 5 controller (JHL9540), offering 40 Gbit/s speed, USB4 v2 compliance, 3x DisplayPort 2.1, and PCIe x4 Gen 4 support.
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| September 12 2023 |
Thunderbolt
Intel previewed Thunderbolt 5 (codenamed Barlow Ridge), aligning with USB4 2.0 specification. The new interface provides symmetric bandwidth of 80 Gbit/s and unidirectional bandwidth of 120 Gbit/s for displays, supporting dual 8K displays at 60 Hz.
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| March 2022 |
Thunderbolt
Apple released Studio Display featuring one Thunderbolt 3 port.
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| 2021 |
Thunderbolt
Apple started to include Thunderbolt 4 on some of their devices, beginning with the MacBook Pro.
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| 2021 |
Thunderbolt
Copper Thunderbolt 4 cables were released, offering full 40 Gbit/s speed and supporting backward compatibility with USB and DisplayPort standards.
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| November 2020 |
Thunderbolt
Supporting products for Thunderbolt 4 began arriving in the market, including Intel Tiger Lake mobile processors for Intel Evo notebooks and 8000-series standalone Thunderbolt controllers with Goshen Ridge (for devices) and Maple Ridge (for hosts) codenames.
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| October 2020 |
Thunderbolt
Intel launches the Maple Ridge family Thunderbolt 4 controllers, including the JHL8340 and JHL8540 models, featuring 40 Gbit/s speed and USB4 compliance.
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| September 2020 |
Thunderbolt
Corning released optical Thunderbolt 3 cables in multiple lengths.
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| September 2020 |
Thunderbolt
Intel releases the JHL8440 Thunderbolt 4 peripheral controller, offering 40 Gbit/s speed, USB4 compliance, and support for 4 Thunderbolt ports with advanced tunneling capabilities.
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| July 2020 |
Thunderbolt
The final specification for Thunderbolt 4 was released, detailing key technical improvements including minimum 32 Gbit/s PCIe link bandwidth, support for dual 4K displays, and enhanced direct memory access protection.
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| May 2020 |
Thunderbolt
Seven major security flaws collectively named 'Thunderspy' were discovered in the Thunderbolt protocol, revealing significant vulnerabilities that allow unauthorized data access on computers with Thunderbolt 1, 2, and 3 ports, even when devices are locked or encrypted.
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| April 2020 |
Thunderbolt
Taiwanese company Areca released optical Thunderbolt 3 cables in various lengths.
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| January 2020 |
Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt 4 was officially announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), introducing new technical specifications and improvements over the previous Thunderbolt 3 version.
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| January 2020 |
Thunderbolt
Intel certified ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3 motherboard, allowing vendors to freely produce Thunderbolt controller silicon.
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| December 2019 |
Thunderbolt
Release of Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR with Thunderbolt 3 ports.
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| August 29 2019 |
Thunderbolt
USB Implementers Forum released the USB4 specification, based on the Thunderbolt 3 protocol specification.
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| June 2019 |
Thunderbolt
Apple unveiled Mac Pro and Mac Pro (Rack) with up to twelve Thunderbolt 3 ports, and Pro Display XDR with one Thunderbolt 3 port.
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| April 2019 |
Thunderbolt
Corning showed an optical Thunderbolt 3 cable at the NAB Show in Las Vegas.
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| March 4 2019 |
Thunderbolt
The Thunderbolt 3 specification was released to the USB-IF, making it royalty-free and enabling its use in forming USB4.
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| October 2018 |
Thunderbolt
Apple announced MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch) with 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports and Mac mini with four Thunderbolt 3 ports.
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| January 8 2018 |
Thunderbolt
Intel announced a product refresh (Titan Ridge) with enhanced robustness and support for DisplayPort 1.4, offering single and double port host controllers and a peripheral controller supporting two Thunderbolt 3 ports.
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| December 2017 |
Thunderbolt
Release of iMac Pro with four Thunderbolt 3 ports.
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| June 2017 |
Thunderbolt
Apple announced iMac models (21.5-inch, Retina 4K, and Retina 5K, 27-inch) with two Thunderbolt 3 ports, and the iMac Pro with four Thunderbolt 3 ports.
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| May 24 2017 |
Thunderbolt
Intel announced Thunderbolt 3 would become a royalty-free standard to OEMs and chip manufacturers in 2018, aiming to boost protocol adoption.
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| 2016 |
Thunderbolt
Copper Thunderbolt 3 cables became available at longer lengths, with specific limitations on passive and active cable performance.
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| October 2016 |
Thunderbolt
Apple announced MacBook Pro models with Thunderbolt 3 ports: 13-inch with 2 ports and 13-inch with 4 ports, as well as a 15-inch model featuring four Thunderbolt 3 ports.
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| April 2016 |
Thunderbolt
Intel releases the JHL6240 Thunderbolt 3 controller for computers and peripherals, offering 40 Gbit/s speed and DisplayPort 1.2, with a lead-free design.
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| December 1 2015 |
Thunderbolt
First devices with Thunderbolt 3 ports began shipping, including notebooks from Acer, Asus, Clevo, HP, Dell, Dell Alienware, Lenovo, MSI, Razer, and Sony, as well as motherboards from Gigabyte Technology and a 0.5 m Thunderbolt 3 passive USB-C cable from Lintes Technology.
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| October 2015 |
Thunderbolt
Intel introduces the DSL6540 Thunderbolt 3 controller, part of the Alpine Ridge family, featuring 40 Gbit/s speed, DisplayPort 1.2, PCIe 3.0, HDMI 2.0, and 100W power delivery.
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| January 2015 |
Thunderbolt
Intel launches the DSL6340 Thunderbolt 3 controller, offering 40 Gbit/s speed and DisplayPort 1.2 support.
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| 2013 |
Thunderbolt
Apple introduced Thunderbolt 2 ports with the late 2013 Retina MacBook Pro, becoming the first product to feature this upgraded connection technology.
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| September 2013 |
Thunderbolt
Corning Inc. released the first range of optical Thunderbolt cables in the Western marketplace, compatible with Thunderbolt 1 and 2 protocols.
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| September 2013 |
Thunderbolt
Intel releases the DSL5520 Thunderbolt 2 controller, part of the Falcon Ridge family, featuring 20 Gbit/s speed and DisplayPort 1.2 compatibility.
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| January 2013 |
Thunderbolt
Sumitomo Electric Industries introduced the first optical Thunderbolt cable, available in multiple lengths and primarily retailed in Japan.
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| January 2013 |
Thunderbolt
Apple reduced the price of their cable length and added a half-meter cable.
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| 2012 |
Thunderbolt
Other manufacturers started shipping Thunderbolt cables, including cables reaching the maximum length limit. Some storage-enclosure builders began bundling Thunderbolt cables with their devices.
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| June 2012 |
Thunderbolt
Apple began selling a Thunderbolt-to-gigabit Ethernet adapter.
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| April 2012 |
Thunderbolt
Intel launches the DSL3510L Thunderbolt controller, part of the Cactus Ridge family, further advancing the Thunderbolt technology.
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| 2011 |
Thunderbolt
Apple released its first Thunderbolt-equipped computer with the MacBook Pro, marking the initial introduction of Thunderbolt technology in their product line.
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| October 2011 |
Thunderbolt
Intel releases the DSL2210 Thunderbolt controller, part of the Port Ridge family, specifically designed as a device-only controller.
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| June 2011 |
Thunderbolt
Apple introduced the first Thunderbolt cable, an active cable costing US$49.
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| January 2011 |
Thunderbolt
Intel's David Perlmutter announced that initial Thunderbolt implementations would be based on copper wires, which performed surprisingly better than expected.
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| January 2011 |
Thunderbolt
Intel introduces the DSL2510 Thunderbolt controller, part of the Eagle Ridge family, continuing the development of the Thunderbolt interface.
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| October 2010 |
Thunderbolt
Intel releases the first Thunderbolt controller (82523EF) as part of the Light Ridge family, marking the initial launch of the Thunderbolt interface technology.
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| September 2010 |
Thunderbolt
Early commercial prototypes of the technology were demonstrated at Intel Developer Forum 2010.
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| May 4 2010 |
Thunderbolt
In Brussels, Intel demonstrated a laptop with a Light Peak connector, showcasing its ability to send two simultaneous HD video streams and indicating the technology had miniaturized enough to fit inside a laptop.
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Thunderbolt (interface), which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.