Popular Mac accessory makers CalDigit and OWC have today announced new all-in-one Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 cables, promising maximum data and power transfer over a single cable, as well as full compatibility with older USB devices.
Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 is the latest connectivity specification present in the newest Macs and high-end external hardware, offering performance up to 40Gb/s, making it ideal for eGPUs, SSDs, external displays, and more.
CalDigit and OWC's new Thunderbolt 4 cables feature maximum power and data transfer capability. The cables deliver power up to 100W, making them appropriate for docking stations or monitors that can supply power, and support external displays with resolutions up to 8K.
Many previous generations of longer Thunderbolt cables lacked compatibility with USB-C devices, resulting in reduced transfer speeds, but both of the new CalDigit and OWC cables are fully compatible with USB-C. This also guarantees full compatibility with both Thunderbolt and USB-C monitors, the best possible performance for USB-C devices, and the ability to connect USB-C devices to Thunderbolt ports, giving users a large amount of versatility from a single cable.
The CalDigit cable is available in a length of 2m and the OWC cable is available in 0.8m only. CalDigit also supports its new cable with a two-year warranty, while OWC's features a three-year warranty.
The OWC 0.8m Thunderbolt 4 and USB-C Cable is available now for $27.99 on MacSales.com, while the CalDigit 2m Thunderbolt 4 and USB-C Cable is available on the CalDigit website for $79.99.
Saturday November 15, 2025 2:40 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is preparing for Tim Cook to step down as CEO of the company "as soon as next year," according to the Financial Times.
The company's board of directors and senior executives "recently intensified preparations for Cook to hand over the reins," the report said.
While the report said that Apple is unlikely to name a new CEO before its next earnings report in late January, it went on to ...
Monday November 17, 2025 3:20 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided developers with the third beta of an upcoming iOS 26.2 update, and there are still new features that are being added with each beta that we get. We've rounded up all of the changes that Apple made in beta 3.
AirDrop
Apple added new AirDrop functionality, providing a way for two people to share files temporarily without having to add one another as contacts.
iOS 26.2...
Thursday November 13, 2025 11:35 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 4, and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 firmware is 8B21, all up from the prior 8A358 firmware released in October.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC, and AirPods Pro 3...
Apple today announced an expansion of AppleCare+ coverage in India, with new options for monthly and annual plans, and the addition of Theft and Loss for iPhone for the first time.
Options for monthly and annual AppleCare+ plans in India provide more choice and flexibility, allowing users to keep coverage for as long as they require. Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product...
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When ...
Tuesday November 18, 2025 8:47 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps.
Starting this Wednesday, November 19, the feature will be available to residents of Illinois.
The announcement confirmed that the...
Friday November 14, 2025 6:20 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple recently teamed up with Japanese fashion brand ISSEY MIYAKE to create the iPhone Pocket, a limited-edition knitted accessory designed to carry an iPhone.
iPhone Pocket is available to order on Apple's online store starting today, in the United States, France, China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. However, it is already completely sold out in the United...
Friday November 14, 2025 3:23 pm PST by Juli Clover
Most of Apple's Macs are slated to get M5 chips across 2026, and there's a possibility we'll even see the first M6 chips toward the end of the year. Updates are planned for everything from the MacBook Air to the Mac Studio.
MacBook Air (Early 2026)
The MacBook Air will be one of the first Macs to get a 2026 refresh, with an update planned for the first few months of the year. The MacBook...
Sunday November 16, 2025 6:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reiterated that Tesla plans to add Apple CarPlay support to its vehicles "in the coming months."
This is easily the biggest news for the regular version of CarPlay in years, should Tesla actually follow through with offering the system in its vehicles.
As noted by Gurman, this would be a stunning reversal for Tesla and its CEO Elon ...
Friday November 14, 2025 10:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Starting with the upcoming tvOS 26.2 update, currently in beta, additional profiles created on the Apple TV no longer require their own Apple Account.
In the Settings app on the Apple TV, under Profiles and Accounts, anyone can create a new profile by simply entering a name and indicating whether the profile is for a kid. The profile will be associated with the primary user's Apple Account,...
I think Cable Matters beat both OWC and CalDigit to market with a 2m certified TB4/USB4 cable?
I bought one from Amazon and can confirm it's certified, and works at full speed with both Thunderbolt and non-TB USB 3.1 devices. Previously, only the Apple Thunderbolt 3 "Pro" 2m cable @ $129 supported full speed USB 3.1 functionality at a 2m length.
I authored the lone review on Amazon for the Cable Matters version: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Z65YJQ/
All it just seems like yesterday when I was connecting a SCSI connector to a Mac system with a 1.25 megabytes ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabytes') per second transfer rate with a DB-25 connector. That was screaming :)
Is there any reason TB3 can't be upgraded for USB 4? They're the same connector, same speed, etc. What is the primary hardware difference?
USB4 is a tunneling protocol based on Thunderbolt, but the two are not the same. USB4 can tunnel the USB protocol in addition to PCI Express and DisplayPort. USB4 also uses slightly different signaling rates and encoding schemes (10 or 20 GT/s vs 10.3125 and 20.625 GT/s). The bottom line is that USB4 devices will only work with Thunderbolt 3 devices if they optionally include support for the USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 Alternate Mode. Thunderbolt 4 is USB4 with full support for Thunderbolt 3 interoperability.
Any passive full-featured USB Type-C cable up to 0.8 m should support all current protocols. Longer cables require active circuitry to handle the faster signaling rates. The retimer/redriver chips that they use have traditionally only supported specific protocols (e.g. the signaling rates used by Thunderbolt). Thunderbolt 4 cables can handle both USB4 (10 or 20 GT/s) and USB3 (5 or 10 GT/s) as well as the Thunderbolt 3 (10.3125 or 20.625 GT/s) and DisplayPort (1.62, 2.7, 5.4 or 8.1 GT/s) alternate modes.
The smart ones? 1999. Since NASA lost its $125-million Mars Climate Orbiter because spacecraft engineers failed to convert from English to metric measurements when exchanging vital data before the craft was launched.
