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| Intel inadvertently provided details about Thunderbolt 5. Leaked |
Intel accidentally leaked information about Thunderbolt 5 technology, although Thunderbolt 4 is still relatively early days. However, this does not prevent the company from working on the next version of the Thunderbolt 5 connectivity standard.
Thanks to CEO Gregory Bryant's hastily deleted tweet, we've previewed the next generation of the Thunderbolt standard that can deliver twice the speed of Thunderbolt 4 while preserving the physical USB-C port.
This tweet contains four images. But it was soon deleted and replaced with three photos. The removed image shows new information about the next generation of Thunderbolt technology.
On the deleted photo, there is a poster on the wall showing 80G-PHY technology, which means the company is developing a physical layer (PHY) for 80Gbps connections. That's twice the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 at 40 Gbit/s.
The second line confirms that 80G USB is designed to support the current USB-C ecosystem. So the company's goal is to preserve the USB-C port while doubling the effective bandwidth.
This is great news for anyone who has invested a lot of money in USB-C. Cables, hubs, and devices should always be replaced with Thunderbolt 5 devices at release. However, this does mean that the stable, backward compatible socket is still suitable for all chargers, tablets, and dongles.
Intel inadvertently provided details about Thunderbolt 5. Leaked
The third line indicates that PHY uses the new PAM-3 modulation technology. This is a new method of sending bits over the wire that allows for higher bandwidth than current methods.
The third line shows how to send 0 and 1 by allowing 0, 1 or one NRZ token to be sent. The normal progression of the scheme allows the transfer of PTIN, known as PAM-4 (pulse amplitude modulation).
It should be noted that it may take months or even years for Thunderbolt 5 to reach the market. Thunderbolt 4 is only 1 year old. Much remains to be done to further implement the existing standards.