Apple Revamps Thunderbolt Cable Lineup with Lower Pricing, Shorter Cable Option

As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple today revamped its Thunderbolt cable lineup, dropping the price of the existing 2-meter cable from $49 to $39 and adding a new 0.5-meter cable priced at $29.

apple thunderbolt cablesThunderbolt cables remain relatively expensive due to the electronics included inside the cables to manage the multiple protocols supported by the standard. The complexity and expense has both slowed deployment of Thunderbolt peripherals and limited support mostly to high-end devices capable of absorbing the high cost premium.

Thunderbolt cables have so far been limited to traditional copper cabling, but vendors are just beginning production on optical cables for the standard. The optical cables will allow for much longer cable lengths, but will not be able to provide power to peripherals as copper cables can.

Popular Stories

apple launch feb 2025 alt

Here Are the New Apple Products We're Still Expecting This Spring

Thursday February 20, 2025 5:06 am PST by
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring. There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category. M4...
Apple iPhone 16e Feature

Apple Announces iPhone 16e With A18 Chip and Apple Intelligence, Pricing Starts at $599

Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued. The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
prioritize notifications ios 18 4

Everything New in iOS 18.4 Beta 1

Friday February 21, 2025 1:08 pm PST by
Apple finally released the first beta of iOS 18.4 to developers for testing purposes, and while the beta is lacking some of the Apple Intelligence features we were hoping for, there are some notable new additions. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Priority Notifications - Apple Intelligence There is a new Priority Notifications feature that can show you your most...
iphone 17 pro asherdipps

iPhone 17 Pro Models Rumored to Feature Aluminum Frame Instead of Titanium Frame

Tuesday February 18, 2025 12:02 pm PST by
Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models. In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
ios 18 4 ambient music

iOS 18.4 Adds New Ambient Music Feature

Friday February 21, 2025 11:06 am PST by
In iOS 18.4, there's a new Ambient Music option that can be added to Control Center. There are four different sound categories, including Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing. Each category can be added to Control Center separately, and tapping one plays a random selection of sounds or music from that particular category. You can't choose what's playing from Control Center, but if...
iPhone 16e Feature

Apple Denies Speculation Surrounding iPhone 16e's Lack of MagSafe

Friday February 21, 2025 8:01 am PST by
Apple has confirmed that its custom-designed C1 modem in the iPhone 16e has nothing to do with the device's lack of MagSafe support, according to Macworld. Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, there was some speculation online about how MagSafe magnets might have interfered with the C1 modem's cellular connectivity performance, and this was considered to be a potential reason for the...
Generic iOS 18

Here's When Apple Will Release iOS 18.4

Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:38 am PST by
Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple updated its iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia pages to give a narrower timeline on when the next updates are set to launch. All three pages now state that new Apple Intelligence features and languages will launch in early April, an update from the more broader April timeframe that Apple provided before. The next major point updates will be iOS ...
oppo find n5 fingers

World's Thinnest Foldable Phone Launches in Europe and Asia

Thursday February 20, 2025 8:55 am PST by
Oppo has launched the Find N5, the world's thinnest foldable phone yet. When closed, the book-style foldable measures 8.93mm. That's less than a millimeter thicker than an iPhone 16 Pro, and thinner than the Honor Magic V3, which was the previous record holder. The device is barely thicker than its USB-C port. Indeed, Oppo has suggested that the obstacle to making it any thinner is now "the...

Top Rated Comments

ollyb Avatar
158 months ago
Cool. I'll buy one of these to connect to my.... nothing.
Score: 63 Votes (Like | Disagree)
topmounter Avatar
158 months ago
The guy at Best Buy told me the gold-plated ones are at least 100x faster.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
charlieegan3 Avatar
158 months ago
Shorter cable, same massive markup.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WildCowboy Avatar
158 months ago
This has been available for about a week. Come on guys.

If you've known about it for a week, it would have been helpful if you'd told us about it at any point. :)
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SDAVE Avatar
158 months ago
Thunderbolt is a dead non-starter. USB3 is on course to win the fight.
Not good for us.

TB can become a FireWire port, a Gigabit Port, an extension for the PCIe port to expand graphic card capabilities, etc, not to mention connect to a display and the display becomes a hub, etc.

USB3.0 cannot.

TB is a PCIe extension directly connected to the motherboard, kind of like the now dead ExpressCard.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Drinahn Avatar
158 months ago
Chill out peasants. It's only 50 bucks. If it offends you that much go buy something else.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)