Look around your house and chances are you have at least a few devices that use Universal Serial Bus. On average, some 3 billion USB ports are shipped each year, making it by far the most successful peripheral connection type in the world.
In 2018 when Apple introduced a new style MacBook Pro, it ditched every single port of its old machines and replaced it with just Thunderbolt 3. Many PCs makers followed suit. Now it's fairly normal to have at least one USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 port on a device.
Thunderbolt ports look just like USB-C ports, but they're speedier, and the two have key inner differences. Here's how to tell them apart, plus crucial tips on which is better for charging, data transfer, and other uses.
