Thunderbolt 3 was announced in 2015 and arrived to consumers in Apple's 2016 MacBook Pros. This allowed for a newer and more versatile cable spec to be added without changing or adding ports to ...
If you want to ensure that your cable is meeting all the requirements, Apple's Thunderbolt 5 Pro cable is the one to choose. Available to order now Thunderbolt 5 is brand new.
Thunderbolt 5 maintains backward compatibility with older Thunderbolt 3 and 4 cables. This is achieved through doubled data sampling rates, allowing you to use existing cables at new speeds.