iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 pro - USB-C definitely NOT operating at USB 3.2 gen 1 speeds (10gbps) data transfer is still just as slow as USB 2.0 / lightning cable.

[MrRom92]

I’m restoring a backup in iTunes right now, about ~500GB or so. iTunes is telling me it will take “about 4 hours.”


That’s exactly how slow it would take to normally restore all that data over lightning. This fast USB-C port was the only big improvement of the iPhone for this year’s upgrade cycle, one of the few main distinguishing features of the Pro vs. the standard base model… and it doesn’t even work as advertised! 10gbps data transfer should only take 15-20 minutes at the absolute most.


What gives?

 

[PegasusTenma]

Do you think it might be because the included cable is not thunderbolt?

 

[CMoore515]

Included cable isn't Thunderbolt

 

[JPack]

Get a proper cable, 40Gbps/240W USB-IF certified.

 

[HPad]

The cable included is most likely USB 2.0 just like every other device out there. You need to buy a cable... Like my camera transfering with any ole USB C cable I see about 20MB/s. Using a "10gbps" Cable I get near 200MB/s

 

[MrRom92]

Do you think it might be because the included cable is not thunderbolt?

Included cable isn't Thunderbolt

Get a proper cable, 40Gbps/240W USB-IF certified.

The cable included is most likely USB 2.0 just like every other device out there. You need to buy a cable... Like my camera transfering with any ole USB C cable I see about 20MB/s. Using a "10gbps" Cable I get near 200MB/s

My apologies for not mentioning this - I’m aware the included cable is limited to only USB 2.0
I purchased the following cable on Amazon and am using this to conduct the device restore - it should be suitable for 10gbps, no? It does say it is for iPhone 15 Pro, and Anker is supposedly a reputable company.

I would appreciate it if people don’t discount my experience as me simply using the wrong cable. I am an informed consumer, I did my homework and purchased the appropriate cable for the iPhone 15 Pro specifically so I could use the 10gbps feature as advertised. It seems to me that this is a legitimate issue.

Anker Thunderbolt 4 Cable 2.3 ft, Supports 8K Display/40Gbps Data Transfer/100W Charging USB C to USB C Cable, for iPhone 15Pro/15ProMax, MacBooks, iPad Pro, Hub, Docking (Intel Thunderbolt Certified) https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Thunderbolt-Supports-Transfer-Certified/dp/B095KSL2B9

 

[ebika]

Most of Apple’s USB-C charge cables are USB-PD and USB 2.0 data speeds (a chip inside negotiates things above a certain power and speed, per USB specs) You would need to get a USB 3.1 Gen 2 USB-C cable to increase speeds, or a USB-C thunderbolt cable. The lack of labeling or distinction on these cables is a nightmare. I tend to like cables like the Fasgear USB-C with USB 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps data speeds and USB-PD 100W power delivery.

That Anker cable should go fast, yes. Maybe the estimate sucks and it’ll speed up?

 

[JPack]

My apologies for not mentioning this - I’m aware the included cable is limited to only USB 2.0
I purchased the following cable on Amazon and am using this to conduct the device restore - it should be suitable for 10gbps, no? It does say it is for iPhone 15 Pro, and Anker is supposedly a reputable company.

Anker Thunderbolt 4 Cable 2.3 ft, Supports 8K Display/40Gbps Data Transfer/100W Charging USB C to USB C Cable, for iPhone 15Pro/15ProMax, MacBooks, iPad Pro, Hub, Docking (Intel Thunderbolt Certified) https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Thunderbolt-Supports-Transfer-Certified/dp/B095KSL2B9

I would suggest a USB4 cable. Electrically, TB4 and USB4 are the same, but some older TB3 devices do not work well with TB4 cables because the cable does not identify properly.

Anker 515 USB-C to USB-C Cable (USB4)

Move Files Fast: Transfer music, movies, or entire seasons of TV shows in seconds at 40 Gbps. HD Display: Connect your laptop to an external monitor to mir

www.anker.com

 

[MrRom92]

Most of Apple’s USB-C charge cables are USB-PD and USB 2.0 data speeds (a chip inside negotiates things above a certain power and speed, per USB specs) You would need to get a USB 3.1 Gen 2 USB-C cable to increase speeds, or a USB-C thunderbolt cable. The lack of labeling or distinction on these cables is a nightmare. I tend to like cables like the Fasgear USB-C with USB 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps data speeds and USB-PD 100W power delivery.

That Anker cable should go fast, yes. Maybe the estimate sucks and it’ll speed up?

I was hoping that would be the case, but it really is going that slow. It’s saying “about 2 hours” at this point. Even that would be far too long for 10gbps.

For further context, my PC’s main boot drive, where iTunes installs by default (and thus reads/writes backups from) is a Samsung 980 Pro, 2TB, which is capable of reading and writing at about 5GB/s… that’s gigaBYTES! This is far faster read speeds than the iPhone’s 10gbps (gigaBITS per second) so I assure you my drive is not the bottleneck either.

PC motherboard is an Asus Crosshair Formula VIII, CPU is AMD Ryzen 5950X

 

[MrRom92]

I would suggest a USB4 cable. Electrically, TB4 and USB4 are the same, but some older TB3 devices do not work well with TB4 cables because the cable does not identify properly.

Anker 515 USB-C to USB-C Cable (USB4)

Move Files Fast: Transfer music, movies, or entire seasons of TV shows in seconds at 40 Gbps. HD Display: Connect your laptop to an external monitor to mir

www.anker.com

I will order that cable and give it a shot, though that won’t save me from the long transfer speeds today unfortunately. When it would’ve really counted

I expect this will clear up given enough time, but right now at launch trying to decipher the cable compatibility is a real mess. Even according to Anker, this would be the correct cable to achieve the full speed the device would be capable of.

 

[JPack]

I will order that cable and give it a shot, though that won’t save me from the long transfer speeds today unfortunately. When it would’ve really counted

I expect this will clear up given enough time, but right now at launch trying to decipher the cable compatibility is a real mess. Even according to Anker, this would be the correct cable to achieve the full speed the device would be capable of.

If you have a computer that was launched before TB4, it may not recognize the identifier from the TB4 cable so it throttles down to a low speed. Existing TB4 cables should be updated, but it may take time.

I could be wrong, but that's the only legit reason I can think of. I know this is the case with some TB3 hosts and docks.

 

[zakarhino]

If you want to be 100% certain you're getting a cable with max USB speeds you should use an Apple thunderbolt cable which is backwards compatible with USB3. The cable you purchased might not be up to spec despite what the advertisement says.

Another point to consider is the limiting factor may not be the cable, it could be because the iPhone is writing and indexing those files as it's downloading them from your PC. Similar to installing large games from Steam, you might have a super fast connection to the download server but your PC has to unpack and index the game files appropriately -- here the limiting factor is CPU and SSD.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I restored my 15PM from my MBP M1 Max, and it took about 15 minutes. I had close to 300gb to restore. I didn't use the included USB-C cable though.

I also tried shooting a video Pro Res 4K 60fps video direct to external storage (Sandisk Extreme 2TB) and it worked flawless.

 

[Brandon42]

Out of curiosity, what does the System Information report show for the USB speed? (You can easily reach System information by clicking on the Apple Menu and holding down the option key.)

 

[PegasusTenma]

Out of curiosity, what does the System Information report show for the USB speed? (You can easily reach System information by clicking on the Apple Menu and holding down the option key.)

They are on a pc

 

[PLin]

I used a Belkin USB-C cable that has the 10Gbps logo on the connectors. I only had about 120GB to restore to my new 15 Pro Max, and I didn’t specifically time it, but I’m pretty sure it was faster than restoring my backup to my 14 Pro last year using a Lightning cable. However, I did go to System Information on my Mac and was able to confirm that the iPhone was indeed connected at 10Gbps.

 

[MrRom92]

Does anyone have the same USB-C cable I linked to and can test it on a Mac? Is it possible Apple is pulling some shenanigans on Windows PC users?

 

[LouisPiper]

Is your BIOS up to date? A quick search shows multiple results for USB dropouts and inconsistencies with that motherboard/CPU. This issue is down to three things: 1. Support on the iPhone, 2. The cable, and 3. Your PC set up.

We can rule out 1 as that would come out quickly. We can *probably* rule out 2 since Anker is reputable as well (although there might be a defect - I would still exchange), which leaves 3. I would verify your BIOS is up to date, apparently that was patched.

 

[MrRom92]

Is your BIOS up to date? A quick search shows multiple results for USB dropouts and inconsistencies with that motherboard/CPU. This issue is down to three things: 1. Support on the iPhone, 2. The cable, and 3. Your PC set up.

We can rule out 1 as that would come out quickly. We can *probably* rule out 2 since Anker is reputable as well (although there might be a defect - I would still exchange), which leaves 3. I would verify your BIOS is up to date, apparently that was patched.

Yes, my BIOS is up to date - IIRC the x570 boards were notorious for USB dropouts early on when the 5000 series CPUs first came out, however that was patched out in BIOS updates a loooong time ago, many many versions ago.
It’s worth noting I have not had any similar problems, or problems of any kind with any other USB-2 or USB-3 devices - all work reliably and as speedy as I would expect them to. I never experienced the random dropout/disconnection issue at any point.

 

[N54TT]

I used a Belkin usb4 cable with a MacBook Pro 2020 (thunderbolt 3). It took me 20minutes to restore 300gb. That would have taken hours in the past.

 

[striatedglutes]

Seeing USB 2.0 speeds here as well restoring from backup. Setup:

• M1 MBP 13" (2020)
• Backup housed on a SanDisk Extreme Pro connected via USB-C w/ Sandisk included cable (backs up my photos library at 10Gbps all the time)
• iPhone 15 Pro connected via https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085VRGB4F/ USB 3.2 20Gbps
• No extra hubs, both connected to USB-C on MBP

Mac System Info under "USB" shows two entries for USB 3.1 Bus: iPhone and SanDisk Extreme Pro. Both show "Speed: Up to 10 Gb/s"

Disk utility shows consistent data transfer at ~60MB/s which is 480Mbps (USB 2.0).

Does the 2020 13" MBP have a limitation on USB speed when two devices are using its USB/Thunderbolt bus?

 

[Bill Av]

I'm using an OWC Thunderbolt 4 cable with my Mac Studio and 15 Pro Max. I initially transferred from my iPhone 11 over WiFi; it took two hours to do everything from my music / TV /movies (~ 400 GB). The artwork got all screwed up after my initial sync with the Studio, so I deleted all my media. I decided to just sync my music first (~300 GB); it's been over an hour and a half and it's only halfway done. So it's going to take much longer to transfer less data.

I'm plugged into one of the USB-C ports on the front of the computer, maybe I'll switch to one the Thunderbolts on the back later. System information says "Up to 10 Gb/s" right now, though.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Yes, my BIOS is up to date - IIRC the x570 boards were notorious for USB dropouts early on when the 5000 series CPUs first came out, however that was patched out in BIOS updates a loooong time ago, many many versions ago.
It’s worth noting I have not had any similar problems, or problems of any kind with any other USB-2 or USB-3 devices - all work reliably and as speedy as I would expect them to. I never experienced the random dropout/disconnection issue at any point.

It took 53 seconds for me to transfer a 9.83gb video directly from my 15PM on my desktop pc. I'm on a x470 board, and the only USB-C port on it is a 3.1.

I'm using the small USB-C cord that can with my external Sandisk Extreme drive.

 

[N54TT]

Seeing USB 2.0 speeds here as well restoring from backup. Setup:

• M1 MBP 13" (2020)
• Backup housed on a SanDisk Extreme Pro connected via USB-C w/ Sandisk included cable (backs up my photos library at 10Gbps all the time)
• iPhone 15 Pro connected via https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085VRGB4F/ USB 3.2 20Gbps
• No extra hubs, both connected to USB-C on MBP

Mac System Info under "USB" shows two entries for USB 3.1 Bus: iPhone and SanDisk Extreme Pro. Both show "Speed: Up to 10 Gb/s"

Disk utility shows consistent data transfer at ~60MB/s which is 480Mbps (USB 2.0).

Does the 2020 13" MBP have a limitation on USB speed when two devices are using its USB/Thunderbolt bus?

Interesting. Only difference we had was that my backup was stored on the MPB. I don't know what the transfer speeds were, but mine took 20min for 300gb.

I just picked up a SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2 to store my backups on. You can restore directly from the external after creating the original symlink And don’t need to move the folder back to the MBP? Now I’m wonder if I should create a symlink or just keep the backups on the external and transfer them back when I need to restore(If the restore is faster that way)

 

[striatedglutes]

You can restore directly from the external after creating the original symlink And don’t need to move the folder back to the MBP? Now I’m wonder if I should create a symlink or just keep the backups on the external and transfer them back when I need to restore(If the restore is faster that way)

Not sure if this is a question or a statement, but I did not try to restore directly from the SanDisk out of fear that something strange might happen. I wanted to make sure it did it correctly the first time. If I end up switching phones soon (perhaps downgrading to 14 Pro) I'll probably try to restore direct from the drive.