macOS Sierra Code Confirms Thunderbolt 3 and 10Gb/s USB 3.1 Transfer Speeds in Future Macs
Code discovered within the macOS Sierra beta suggests the operating system will include support for second-generation USB 3.1 transfer speeds of up 10Gb/s, hinting at hardware upgrades that will be included in future Macs set to be released later this year.
Found in a localizable text string in macOS Sierra by 9to5Mac, the code points to support for "Super Speed Plus," another name for the faster 10Gb/s USB 3.1 Gen 2 specification. Current Macs (and OS X El Capitan) only support current-generation USB 3.1, capable of reaching transfer speeds of up to 5Gb/s, so the obvious conclusion is that Apple is planning to add USB 3.1 Gen 2 support to its upcoming Mac machines.
Apple's new Macs almost always include support for the latest USB and Thunderbolt specifications to maximize performance, so it should come as no surprise that Apple is planning the same upgrades for Macs to be released in 2016. Rumors have also previously suggested Thunderbolt 3, which includes support for 10Gb/s USB 3.1 and DisplayPort 1.2, will be introduced in Apple's most highly anticipated machine due for a refresh, the MacBook Pro, so the code found today is in line with what we'd expect to see.
There is no word on when Apple plans to debut its new MacBook Pro, and if there are other Mac updates in the works, but it is rumored to be debuting before the end of the year, perhaps at an event set to be held in October or November. The machine is said to feature a thinner, redesigned body with an OLED touch panel and Touch ID support.
Popular Stories
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for more than five more months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
The all-new MacBook Neo has been such a hit that Apple is facing a "massive dilemma," according to Taiwan-based tech columnist and former Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan.
In the iPhone 16 Pro models, the A18 Pro chip has a 6-core GPU. During the chip manufacturing process, however, sometimes a CPU or GPU core can turn out to be faulty. Rather than discarding the leftover A18 Pro chips with...
As we wait for WWDC to kick off next Monday, Apple today announced the winners of its annual Apple Design Awards, recognizing apps and games for their innovation, ingenuity, and technical achievement.
The 2025 Apple Design Award winners are listed below, with one app and one game selected per category:
Delight and Fun - CapWords (App) and Balatro (Game)
Innovation - Play (App) and PBJ -...
Popular Stories
The new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models feature a keyboard change that was easy to miss during Apple's announcements last week.
The new U.S. English keyboard layout
On the U.S. English version of the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro keyboards, the tab, caps lock, shift, return, and delete keycaps now have glyphs on them. On previous-generation models, these keys are labeled with text...
While the MacBook Neo achieves a breakthrough $599 starting price, that of course comes with some compromises, and one of them is slower SSD speeds.
The Verge today showed the MacBook Neo had up to 8× slower sustained SSD read and write speeds in a benchmark test compared to the new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. The site did not mention which tool it used to measure SSD...
Apple has updated its battery cycle count support document to include the new MacBook Neo, revealing that the entry-level laptop has a maximum cycle count of 1,000.
A battery cycle is completed when you've discharged an amount equal to 100% of the battery's total capacity, but not necessarily in one go. For example, if you use 60% one day and 40% the next, it still counts as one cycle, even ...
