Thunderbolt 3 runs longer than 18-inches can be passive or active. The passive ones have lower speed, with the max data rate hitting about 20Gbit/second at two meters of cable length.

The Thunderbolt 3 cable is active, rather than passive. Instead of carrying up to 5 Gbps of USB 3.1 Gen 1 data, these active Thunderbolt cables throttle down to USB 2.0 speeds, offering about ...

(The passive/active difference could also cause significant confusion if you connected two USB 3.x devices with a Thunderbolt 3 cable. A passive Thunderbolt 3 cable supported USB 3.1 at up to 10 Gbps, ...

Active Thunderbolt 3 cables feature integrated circuitry, which results in a slightly larger area where the cable terminates at the USB-C connector when compared to the passive cables in my ...

Apple has quietly started selling its 2-meter Thunderbolt 3 cable priced at $129, offering a braided design and active cable technology that supports full Thunderbolt 3 data transfer speeds of up ...

While there isn't a clear answer as to why this is the way it is, and the type of Thunderbolt cable be they active or passive doesn't seem to matter, it appears that macOS on Apple Silicon isn't ...

While not technically Thunderbolt 4, OWC’s new 15-foot cable offers Thunderbolt 4-level throughput of 40Gbps for less than Apple’s 3-meter alternative.