Intel plans to integrate Thunderbolt into future CPUs

But next year, Intel says that it is going to make the Thunderbolt 3 specification available on a non-exclusive, royalty-free basis.

Your external hard drives, keyboards, mice, printers, and pretty much any peripheral that's been using the standard, common USB Type A standard to connect to your computer could soon ship with a USB-C cable instead of a USB Type A cable. Thunderbolt 3 is Intel's proprietary interface protocol that supports USB, Thunderbolt, DisplayPort, PCI Express and even power delivery - all through one tiny port. This is a significant development, and could potentially decide the future of computer I/O interfaces.

In its current PC form, the standard nearly magically incorporates support for fast USB 3.1 connectivity, DisplayPort output for up to two 4K streams, as well as HDMI, DVI and even VGA with passive adapters. Intel hopes that this will also encourage other chipmakers to build Thunderbolt-compatible chips.

"We applaud Intel's efforts to integrate Thunderbolt technology into its CPUs and open it up to the rest of the industry", the hardware engineering senior vice president for Apple, Dan Riccio, said in a statement. To do this Intel is looking to employ the likes of Microsoft to help roll out Thunderbolt USB-3 ports. "We envision a future where high-performance single-cable docks, stunning photos and 4K video, lifelike VR, and faster-than-ever storage are commonplace". The firm says that by removing the discrete component that's necessary for Thunderbolt 3, less board space and power will be necessary. This means that third parties and other companies will be free to include Thunderbolt 3 support in their devices at no added cost, which could spur adoption significantly.

Until now, Intel's Thunderbolt interface has mostly been a goodie for Macbook users as Apple is also the creator of the interface.

Additionally, the founder will make Thunderbolt 3 royalty-free next year. It could also result in cheaper chips for the device end of the cable. Part of the problem was the exclusivity with Intel for it to work, which automatically negated all the AMD powered devices out there, another problem was the addition of another port to the device to support the standard, something most manufacturers had a problem with in an age where everyone was trying make devices thinner.

There will surely be some growing pains as people shift towards the new Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C standard, but I'm certain it's for the best.