iPhone 15 Pro Max can degrade Thunderbolt peripherals (2023)
The iPhone 15 Pro Max degrades Thunderbolt peripherals to USB 2.0 speeds when connected to a 2021 MacBook Pro, linked to connection order and identified as a bug in macOS Ventura.
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The blog post discusses issues with the iPhone 15 Pro Max degrading Thunderbolt peripherals to USB 2.0 speeds when connected to a 2021 MacBook Pro M1 Max running macOS Ventura 13.6. The author experienced significant slowdowns, with transfer speeds dropping to 50-100 times slower than expected when using devices like the OWC Atlas FXR card reader. The problem appears to be linked to the order of device connections, as the iPhone often connects at USB 2.0 speeds, affecting the performance of other Thunderbolt devices. The author notes that this issue did not occur with previous macOS versions and suggests it is a bug in macOS Ventura. The iPhone's connection speed fluctuates randomly between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, leading to inconsistent performance. The post highlights the need for better quality control from Apple, citing other issues in macOS Ventura, such as problems with Personal Hotspot and Bluetooth functionality.
- The iPhone 15 Pro Max can degrade Thunderbolt peripherals to USB 2.0 speeds.
- The issue is linked to the order of device connections and appears to be a bug in macOS Ventura.
- Transfer speeds can drop significantly, affecting productivity for users relying on high-speed data transfer.
- The author emphasizes the need for improved quality control from Apple regarding macOS updates.
- Similar issues were not present in earlier versions of macOS, indicating a regression in performance.
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4 comments1. When I connected my iPad Pro M1 to the Mac via a 10Gbps rated USB-C/C cable, it only connected at USB 2.0 speeds (480Mbps). However, when I used a USB-C to USB-A adapter, then a USB-A to USB-C cable to my iPad, it connected at 10Gbps. My suspicion is that when it has the full USB-C wiring on both ends, it might try to establish a Thunderbolt 4 connection, fail, and just fall back to USB 2.0, rather than trying USB 3.x?
2. On a slightly unrelated note: I found the USB-A ports (or rather, their controller) to be really unstable when using a hub, everything works fine when connecting devices directly to the Mac, but with any of the hubs I tried, I saw USB devices becoming unresponsive or resetting over time. A similar setup worked fine on my Windows PC. The most unstable was a simple (i.e. 3 USB-A ports and Ethernet) USB-C hub which I tested with an adapter ("proper" one with VL160 chip); for fun I also tested it with an ungodly chain of almost every USB-C/A adapter I had on the USB-C/TB ports, where it worked fine.
Having to do a bunch of troubleshooting to set up my USB peripherals on the Mac was a bit unexpected, at least the USB-C/TB ports seem to work well (other than that iPad weirdness), so I'm happy I went with the Pro model for the additional two ports.
(Note: While I didn't really approach this too methodically, I believe I tried enough combinations of cabling and hubs to exclude a simple issue like a faulty cable.)
But apparently just connecting an iPhone to a Mac, and doing nothing with it, can somehow induce OTHER attached peripherals to degrade in their performance! Regardless of cable quality.
And somehow even the order of attachment can affect this.
So no wonder there are bizarre Thunderbolt issues…
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