Thunderbolt 4 can reach speeds up to 40Gbps and support up to two 4K displays or even an 8K panel. And with Apple’s new cable, you can reap those benefits from nearly 10 feet away.
As The Verge noted today , Apple has listed a 9.8-foot Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable on its online store, saying the product is “coming soon.”This length provides more flexibility than the longest Thunderbolt 4 offerings from cable manufacturers such as Belkin (6.6 feet), Cable Matters (6.6 feet) and Plugable (6.4 feet). The extra length may be just what the doctor ordered for large offices and studios. Even the countless brands on Amazon don’t offer a Thunderbolt 4 cable of comparable length.
Like any Apple product, the 9.8-foot Thunderbolt 4 cable is expensive. Apple sells the cable for $159, or about $16.22 per foot. By comparison, Belkin’s longest Thunderbolt 4 cable is $10.61/ft, Cable Matters is $9.09/ft, and Plugable is about $10.94/ft.
However, you might argue that Apple’s extra-long cable comes at a slight comparative discount, as Apple charges less per foot than its 5.9-foot variant. The 5.9-foot Apple Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable costs $129, or $21.86 per foot.
Cables of this length are more common among Thunderbolt 3 and USB4, and we expect to see more variety in Thunderbolt 4 cables as the specification becomes more common. On Tuesday, Apple announced the Mac Studio with four Thunderbolt 4 ports.
Apple still sells Thunderbolt 3 (2.6ft) and Thunderbolt 2 (6.6ft) cables for $39 each.