Apple begins selling its own Thunderbolt 3 USB-C to USB-C cable, with transfer speeds of up to 40 Gbps, for $39
Why aren't these the standard ones, again? — It's taken a while, but Apple is finally selling its own Thunderbolt 3 USB-C cables in the Apple Store.
Context & Ripple Effects
Thunderbolt 3 has been converging with USB-C since Intel folded the two together in 2015, when the spec embraced the Type-C connector and doubled bandwidth to 40Gbps, and by early 2016 it was shipping in high-end machines from major PC OEMs (Ars Technica). But the ecosystem had a gap: until now, buyers wanting a guaranteed full-speed 40Gbps cable had no first-party option in the Apple Store.
Apple's move also lands months after the USB 3.2 specification promised doubled 20Gbps speeds over Type-C, sharpening the question of which cables actually carry which speeds — and setting up the tiered cable catalog Apple would later formalize with its $19/$29/$69 USB-C and Thunderbolt 4 lineup in 2023.
First-order effects
- Owners of Thunderbolt 3 Macs and PCs can now buy an Apple-branded, Apple-warrantied cable rated for the full 40Gbps directly from the Apple Store at $39.
- Third-party cable makers lose the default position they held while Apple stayed out of the category, and must now compete against a first-party product at a known price point.
Second-order effects
- The $39 tag becomes the de facto price anchor for certified full-speed USB-C cables, pressuring accessory vendors like Griffin — who charged $29.99 for Lightning cables back in 2015 — to justify premiums or differentiate on length and durability.
- Because most devices ship with bundled charge-only or slower cables, an official full-bandwidth option sold separately nudges buyers toward aftermarket purchases rather than relying on what's in the box.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Apple formalizes cables as a segmented, priced product line — speed tiers at distinct price points — rather than an afterthought, as its later 2023 catalog of $19 to $69 options shows.
- The Thunderbolt-over-USB-C convergence points toward a single-cable future where connector compatibility no longer guarantees performance, making certification and branding the real differentiators in the cable market.
The trend: USB-C is consolidating into a universal connector whose performance tiers are set by branded, separately-sold cables, with Apple monetizing each speed step along the way.