A new leak adds weight to a previous report that the iPhone 15 series will support Thunderbolt. If true, this will allow their USB-C ports to transfer files, updates and other data at up to 40 Gbps.
A tremendously faster data transmission speed would especially benefit those recording high-resolution video on Apple handsets.
iPhone 15 USB-C port could offer Thunderbolt
The Lightning port has been part of every iPhone since 2012. But that’s all about to change. Numerous leaks indicate that the iPhone 15 series will be the first with USB-C.
And that USB-C port might support Thunderbolt, the very fast data transfer standard already in Mac and iPad Pro.
Leaked images supposedly showing the USB-C internal components for several iPhone 15 models have a retimer chip. “This suggests that multiple models within the iPhone 15 series will support Thunderbolt/USB4’s high-speed 40Gbps data transmission,” according to ChargerLAB.
The chip allegedly appears in images of components for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, not just the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Previous rumors indicated only the Pro models would get the Thunderbolt support.
A considerable speed increase
The iPhone Lightning port has a maximum data transfer speed of 480 Mbps. If the iPhone 15 series has a USB-C port that supports Thunderbolt, this will have a max speed of 40 Gbps — that’s 80 times faster.
The current iPhone 14 Pro models can record video at up to 4K at 60 fps. At that rate, an hour of video takes up approximately 25GB.
Apple is encouraging film-makers to shoot their projects on iPhone. A much faster data transfer rate would let users get large files off the handset far more quickly — very helpful for anyone recording a movie on an iPhone.
