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MagyarFascinating CT scan compares Apple's US$199 Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable with Amazon Basics cable
Apple's Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable can transfer data at up to 40 Gbit/s and charge devices at a maximum of 100 watts, but other cables also offer the same functionality for a fraction of the price, such as the Goodlink cable for EUR 40 (~US$42). Jon Bruner and Lumafield recently subjected the Apple Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable to a CT scan to view the structure of the cable in detail.
On the one hand, the scan shows that the connectors are completely made of stainless steel, even if the surface is covered with a layer of plastic. The transition from the connector to the cable is reinforced with steel on eight sides to prevent damage at what is usually a weak point. Inside the cable are 20 different wires, ten of which are individually coated.
What’s inside Apple’s $129 Thunderbolt cable? We CT scanned one to find out, and compared it to some cheaper cables… ???? pic.twitter.com/dkhrhK3pXB
— Jon Bruner (@JonBruner) October 18, 2023
These cables are individually connected to the mainboard of the connectors, which consists of nine layers. Eight of the uncoated cables are used to transmit power while two are used for backwards compatibility with USB 2.0. Jon Bruner calls the Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable a work of art and this complex construction at least partly explains the high price.
A comparison with an Amazon Basics USB-C cable that only supports USB 2.0 and charging up to 60 watts shows how much complexity can be saved with a cheap cable. The plug itself only has 12 instead of 24 pins, the cable itself consists of 5 instead of 20 wires, and the mainboard of the passive cable is used only to connect the connector pins to the wires. A NiceTQ USB-C cable that supports speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s does without a mainboard altogether and simply connects the pins of the connector directly to the wires.
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