At Computex today, Intel announced Thunderbolt 3 which is better than its predecessor in every way. Most importantly though, with Thunderbolt 3, Intel has ditched the Mini DisplayPort connector in favor of a USB Type-C port. 

Apple’s 12-inch MacBook — released earlier this year — was the first mainstream consumer laptop to come with only a single USB Type-C port. With Intel adopting the same port for Thunderbolt 3, this new connector is all set to replace USB 2.0 and other such ports on PCs, laptops and even smartphones in the coming years.

Thunderbolt 3 supports USB 3.1 that offers bandwidth of up to 10Gbps, while the bandwidth of the Thunderbolt transport layer in itself has doubled from 20Gbps to 40Gbps. The additional bandwidth allows Thunderbolt 3 to run two 4K monitors @ 60Hz resolution via a single cable. Other improvements include the ability to (optional) supply up to 100W of power.

Thunderbolt will be powered by Intel’s new Alpine Ridge controller, and will be available in two variants: the first one will make use of four PCIe 3.0 lanes, while the second variant will only use two PCIe 3.0 lanes. Laptops and PCs with former variant will feature two Thunderbolt ports, while the ones that feature the second variant will only have one Thunderbolt 3.0 port.

The future is not far away where all your devices will feature a USB Type-C port, and you will be using a single cable to charge them, connect them to external displays, transfer data at blazing fast speed and more.

Intel did not announce when Thunderbolt 3 will be making its appearances in laptops, but it is likely that this will happen once the company launches Skylake — which is slated for a launch later this year.