Apple's Arm-Based Macs With Apple Silicon Chips Will Support Thunderbolt - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple's Arm-Based Macs With Apple Silicon Chips Will Support Thunderbolt

Apple is working on Macs that use its custom Apple-designed Apple Silicon chips instead of Intel chips, but Apple has committed to continuing to support Thunderbolt, reports The Verge.

thunderbolt 3 ports macbook pro
In a statement, an Apple spokesperson said that Apple's upcoming machines will offer support for Intel's Thunderbolt USB-C standard.

"Over a decade ago, Apple partnered with Intel to design and develop Thunderbolt, and today our customers enjoy the speed and flexibility it brings to every Mac. We remain committed to the future of Thunderbolt and will support it in Macs with Apple silicon."

Apple at WWDC unveiled its plans for Macs equipped with ‌Apple Silicon‌ chips, the first of which is set to come out before the end of 2020. Apple eventually plans to transition all of its Macs to ‌Apple Silicon‌, a process that the company says will take two years.

According to Apple, ‌Apple Silicon‌ will bring a new level of performance with more powerful Macs that are also more energy efficient with better battery life.

Popular Stories

macOS 27 on MacBook Pro

macOS 27 Will Mark the End of an Era

Saturday April 18, 2026 6:45 am PDT by
During its Platforms State of the Union segment at WWDC 2025, Apple revealed that macOS 26 Tahoe is the final major macOS version for Intel-based Macs. The upcoming macOS 27 release will be compatible with Apple silicon Macs only, meaning that you will need a Mac with an M-series chip or a MacBook Neo with an A18 Pro chip in order to install the software update. macOS 27 should be available...
Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple Says CarPlay Ultra is Coming to These Vehicle Brands

Saturday April 18, 2026 5:59 am PDT by
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly a year later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon. In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. CarPlay Ultra...
Tim Cook Rainbow

Apple CEO Tim Cook Stepping Down, John Ternus Taking Over

Monday April 20, 2026 1:33 pm PDT by
Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple's chief executive officer, and hardware engineering chief John Ternus is set to take over, Apple announced today. Cook will continue on as Apple CEO through the summer, with Ternus set to join Apple's Board of Directors and take over as CEO on September 1, 2026. Cook is going to transition to executive chairman, and he will "assist with certain...

Top Rated Comments

76 months ago
Now let's hope they get rid of the awful Touch Bar.
Score: 50 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr_Brightside_@ Avatar
76 months ago
Welcome news!
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
76 months ago

Get rid of that nonsense and just go to usb 4. Streamline it even more.
It probably is exactly that. USB4 supports Thunderbolt 3
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
76 months ago
I expected this despite all the doom and gloomers. Still nice that Apple game out ahead of this And didn’t let it linger. Now please announce Apple Silicon Macs won’t be limited to their own GPUs. Plenty of people are saying this like it’s a fact and it’s obvious nonsense to me.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
76 months ago

Now let's hope they get rid of the awful Touch Bar.
I love it. Use it all the time. Admittedly I have some awesome setup for apps with Better Touch Tool.

it's interesting that some people hate on this... just because it doesn't fit their needs or they can't be bothered to find out what it can do....

That said I would love for apple to have an OLED keyboard like the Optimus Maximus. Completely customisable for every app. shows tools images into photo shop for example.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
76 months ago
Good news but hardly surprising.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)