USB 4 is actually based on the Intel Thunderbolt 3 specification and is going to share many of the same features starting with speed. Just like Thunderbolt 3 USB 4 boasts speeds of up to 40 Gbps provided you have a compatible cable and will exclusively use the USB-C connector.
Intel owns the Thunderbolt specification while they released it to the USB-IF (USB Implementers Forum) to make high-speed versatile connections possible across a broader range of devices. Since Thunderbolt is proprietary and owned by Intel, device manufacturers have to pay Intel royalties in order to put a Thunderbolt certified logo in their peripherals and accessories.
All USB4 ports and devices will also support USB power delivery for using a device like your laptop to power an external display or fast charge your phone and there will be an added benefit and that the specification will be able to use all of its extra bandwidth more efficiently.
For example, you’ve got a PC connected to a monitor over USB4, you’re also using that USB4 connection to move some files to an external drive while an older specification would simply split the bandwidth in half and bottleneck your data transfer. USB4 can intelligently adjust how much bandwidth it assigns to each device. So, having a monitor plugged in won’t slow down your connection with that external drive.
The platforms that natively support USB4 are Apple Silicon M1, Intel 11th Generation Core (Tiger Lake/Rocket Lake), and the upcoming AMD Zen 4.
Some of the benefits of USB4,
- External GPU support*, 10 GbE Networking, High-Speed External Flash Storage, etc.
- DisplayPort Alt-Mode 2.0 for 8K 60Hz with HDR.
- Power Delivery up to 100 Watts.
- Backward compatible with USB 3.2, USB 2.0, Thunderbolt 3* accessories.
Note: External GPU is currently not supported on M1 MacBooks due to I/O limitation