The largest factor I did not see at CES: Thunderbolt 5. Insiders clarify why

The one factor I anticipated to see at CES was a flood of laptops with Thunderbolt 5 connections hooked up. But, so far as I might inform, there wasn’t a single one.

Thunderbolt 4? Certain. Laptops with that specification have been commonplace. However laptop computer makers don’t appear to be embracing Thunderbolt 5 but, though Intel formally introduced the Thunderbolt 5 specification in late 2023 for cargo in 2024.

It’s now 2025, and Thunderbolt 5 was primarily a no-show at CES.

Why? From my conversations on the present, system makers blamed two issues: first, the continued lack of Intel chipsets with built-in Thunderbolt 5 inside. However additionally they pointed to the stalled transition to 8K content material. With out it, system makers say that buyers appear comfortable sufficient with the capabilities Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 present.

Thunderbolt makes use of the USB-C port discovered on PCs, with Thunderbolt 4 routing as much as 40 Gbps throughout it. Thunderbolt 5 can transmit as much as 80Gbps (or, in sure instances, to 120Gbps) value of knowledge. That has sometimes translated into two 4K shows’ value of knowledge at 60Hz resolutions within the case of Thunderbolt 4, or three 4K shows at 144Hz, within the case of Thunderbolt 5. Thunderbolt 5 additionally permits for 2 8K shows at 60Hz.

And that’s the issue: the dearth of 8K. {Hardware} makers describe it as a chicken-and-egg drawback: With out 8K broadcast content material, there isn’t a marketplace for 8K shows. And with out 8K shows, {hardware} able to rendering 8K content material simply isn’t as useful. Nvidia’s older GeForce 4090 playing cards supposedly can render and seize in 8K, however our overview didn’t check that functionality. Content material creators can edit and export 8K video utilizing the cardboard, however 8K gaming remains to be extra of a curiosity than a actuality.

That’s to not say that there weren’t any Thunderbolt 5 gadgets at CES in any respect. LG launched a 6K show with a Thunderbolt 5 connection, Asus introduced a Thunderbolt 5 eGPU, and LaCie launched Thunderbolt 5 SSDs. However LG’s show didn’t reap the benefits of Thunderbolt 5’s 8K capabilities, and anybody hoping to make use of the Asus eGPU wants a Thunderbolt 5 connection on their laptop computer, too.

Thunderbolt 5 requires an ecosystem, and there’s a gaping gap the place the laptop computer is. Awful early Thunderbolt 5 experiences haven’t helped.

Mark Hachman / IDG

It’s virtually an financial drawback

Bernie Thompson, the founder and chief technical officer at dock maker Plugable, mentioned that the laptop computer dock {industry} has tailored to accommodate a number of developments. On one hand, applied sciences like Thunderbolt 4 and 5 provide rising throughput. Applied sciences like Show Stream Compression use software program compression to extend that information “provide” even additional.

There ought to be a complementary “demand” factor to it, too, however there isn’t. The hoped-for transition to 8K content material is verging on its fifth yr. And whereas there’s a vociferous phase of the gaming viewers who desires to push to greater refresh charges, a considerable chunk of the market — enterprise customers — don’t care about something past commonplace 60Hz shows, he mentioned.

“All of that is including as much as the headline function of Thunderbolt 5 — the 80-120 [Gbps] help — fixing an issue that’s solely an issue for a portion of the market, however in all probability not nearly all of the market,” Thompson mentioned. “And if Thunderbolt 5 have been free, built-in in with the chipset and if it have been fully devoid of any compatibility questions, you then would have a quick Thunderbolt 5 adoption. However I feel that there are challenges in each areas.”

“And so the present 40-gig options like Thunderbolt 4, cowl the situations {that a} excessive proportion of the market care about,” Thompson added.

Though some dock makers have launched Thunderbolt 5 docking stations, others, like Plugable, don’t plan to launch theirs till later this yr.

Asus

Intel: Thunderbolt 4 is mainstream

Though Thunderbolt 5 is actually the 80Gbps model of the industry-standard USB4 v2 (which is being branded as simply “USB 80Gbps”), the Thunderbolt trademark is owned by Intel, which manufactures its personal chipsets for PCs with Thunderbolt inside. At CES 2025, Intel launched the Core H and Core HX processors primarily based upon its Arrow Lake desktop chips — and like its predecessors, these chips combine Thunderbolt 4, not 5. (Intel supplies a discrete Thunderbolt 5 chip that laptop computer makers can optionally purchase and match into laptops.)

An Intel consultant described Thunderbolt 4 because the “mainstream port” proper now.

“Thunderbolt 4 has grow to be the mainstream port of selection on Intel Core-based laptops because it was built-in into the [chip] with our Intel Core Eleventh-gen cellular platform,” the Intel consultant mentioned by way of e-mail, after the unique publication of this story. “And now that it’s built-in on desktop platforms with our Intel Core Extremely 200S sequence processors you’re seeing some thrilling product bulletins from OEM companions like ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte.

“Thunderbolt 5 adoption continues to develop – each on cellular and desktop platforms – and we count on that momentum to proceed in 2025 and past,” the spokesman added. “You’re seeing increasingly more Thunderbolt 5 equipment coming to market – CES 2025 featured a number of bulletins from IO Gear, CableMatters, and ASUS for instance. And also you’ll be listening to extra within the months to return.”

“8K shouldn’t be occurring”

Nevertheless, Abdul Ismail, the chief technical officer of the USB Implementor’s Discussion board (and a senior principal engineer for Intel), mentioned his estimate was widespread USB 80Gbps / Thunderbolt 5 adoption was not till 2027 or so. He, too, used the chicken-and-egg metaphor.

“To me, that’s a chicken-and-egg factor,” he mentioned throughout a CES assembly, noting that the typical person doesn’t want Thunderbolt 5’s capabilities at this cut-off date. “The host guys are going to place it in as a result of it’s going to grow to be a guidelines merchandise in some unspecified time in the future in time, proper? However I feel that it’s going to be two-year’s time that you simply’ll see it as a requirement to have 80 gigs.”

Thunderbolt’s chief competitors agreed. Whereas Thunderbolt is the inspiration of the very best Thunderbolt docks, the DisplayLink protocol powers the very best DisplayLink docks. Executives at DisplayLink and Synaptics, its father or mother firm, argue that DisplayLink can do extra with much less, by way of compression, than Thunderbolt can. However even they agree that the cable between gadgets is not the gating issue, no matter it’s.

Mark Hachman / IDG

“So I suppose up till this level, till Thunderbolt 5 and [DisplayPort] 2.1, the GPUs might generate extra pixels than we might transport and the show might eat,” mentioned Jeff Lukanc, senior director of product advertising and marketing of video interfaces at Synaptics. “However now with DP 2.1, and Thunderbolt, 5, the connection far exceeds the GPU. So that you don’t want that a lot bang. I feel the reply is, the hyperlink is now forward of both finish, and we’ve bought a pair years earlier than this massive catch-up.”

In line with Lukanc, show makers usually are not going to put money into making 8K shows smaller. “So if the 8K goes to be a four-foot show, and it’s not going to suit in your desk, 8K shouldn’t be occurring,” he mentioned. “What is occurring is refresh charge.”

From what his enterprise clients have advised him, Lukanc mentioned, “I’ve been advised to plan on 165Hz for the subsequent 5 years” with 4K shows.

PC gaming, in the meantime, might set an accelerated tempo towards 8K content material, hauling a extra widespread adoption of Thunderbolt 5 in its wake. A supply at one gaming PC maker mentioned that we ought to be measuring adoption by GPU era firstly. The Nvidia GeForce 30-series ushered in 4K gaming, but it surely was solely within the 40-series the place 4K gaming grew to become extra constant, at 144Hz refresh charges.

For 8K? “If I needed to guess, I’d say the [GeForce] 60, 70 sequence,” the supply mentioned. “Yeah, I feel we’ll see early adoption within the 60 sequence, and 70 is the place we’ll see — I don’t wish to say mainstream, however extra individuals will put it to use. By the 80 [series], it’ll be cheaper, the place precise individuals can truly put it to use.”

However for now, nevertheless, it seems that Thunderbolt 5 gained’t arrive in your PC any time quickly.

Correction: Bernie Thompson is the founder and chief technical officer at Plugable, not the CTO. This story was up to date at 5:37 PM on Jan. 14 with further feedback from Intel.