The USB
Situation

USB 2 and USB 3 are the old open standards; Thunderbolt is Intel's premium tier. USB4 (2019) is USB-IF's open version of Thunderbolt 3 — same 40 Gb/s, but features like dual 4K are optional rather than guaranteed. "USB4" on a box could mean almost anything.

USB 2 and USB 3 come in both USB-A (the rectangle) and USB-C (the oval). USB4 and Thunderbolt are USB-C only. The "same shape" problem is about USB-C — everything from USB 2 through Thunderbolt 5 runs through the same oval plug. Transfer times assume a modern SSD. Monitor counts are maximums — check the device tables below. Data speed matters when you're moving large files: backups, video projects, external drives. For keyboards, mice, or charging, USB 2 is fine. For details on charging, see The Apple Charging Situation.

†Left port: USB 3 (10 Gb/s) with DisplayPort 1.4. Right port: USB 2 (480 Mb/s), no display. They look identical; macOS will tell you if you plug a display into the wrong one. All MacBooks ship with a MagSafe or USB-C charge cable rather than a data cable — whatever you plug in for transfers, you supplied. (The Neo also ships with a 20W charger on a 30W device.)

"Cable Gap" = how much faster the port is than the USB-C Charge Cable in the box (USB 2, 480 Mb/s). The 17e and Air can't output video over USB-C at all — no DisplayPort support. Every iPhone box contains the same cable.

Every iPad ships with a 20W adapter and a "USB-C Charge Cable" — USB 2 speeds. The iPad Pro's Thunderbolt port is 83× faster than the cable in its $1,299 box. The cable that actually uses the port costs $69–$129.

The 240W Charge Cable is the trap — it looks premium, charges at full speed, and still transfers data at USB 2. The Thunderbolt Pro Cables are what actually match your ports. Thunderbolt 4 Pro: $69 (1 m) / $129 (1.8 m) / $159 (3 m). Thunderbolt 5 Pro: $69 (1 m only). For longer Thunderbolt 5 runs, see CalDigit (2 m, $140) — which Apple itself resells in a 0.5 m version — or OWC (2 m, $80).

These are floor specs, not recommendations. A Thunderbolt cable handles all of them, so if you have a Thunderbolt port, buy one good Thunderbolt cable and stop thinking about it.

Skip the look-alikes. Apple's 240W USB-C Charge Cable ($39) charges at full speed but transfers at USB 2; "Charge" in the name is meant literally. Anker's 765 240W braided cable looks like the obvious upgrade and is also USB 2 only. The Apple Thunderbolt 4 Pro Cable is fine but caps at 40 Gb/s and 100W; at 1 m the Thunderbolt 5 cable costs the same and future-proofs you for 240W and 120 Gb/s.

Every time USB-IF added a faster tier, they renamed the old ones so existing products sounded current. In 2023 they finally switched to speed-based names — the right call. But manufacturers still use the old "Gen" names on boxes. Both systems coexist.

A few flickers of progress: the EU is requiring physical wattage labels ("60W" or "240W") on every USB-C cable plug by December 2028 (Regulation 2025/2052). Thunderbolt 5 mandates what USB4 v2 makes optional, so the Thunderbolt 5 logo is finally a useful guarantee. The MacBook Pro M5 Pro/Max ships with Thunderbolt 5 across the line — the first of Apple's lineup to consolidate.