If it seems weird to you that Apple abandoned Thunderbolt, its all-in-one connector created just a few years back, in favor of USB-C for the new MacBook, you’re not the only one. It is weird. But there might be a more straightforward explanation for that than you think: According to a new rumor, Apple effectively invented USB-C.

According to noted Apple pundit John Gruber of Daring Fireball, Apple was the singular driver behind the USB-C standard. Gruber said this on the latest episode of his podcast, The Talk Show:

“I have heard, I can’t say who but lets call them informed little birdies, that USB-C is an Apple invention and that they gave it to the standards bodies … and that the politics of such is that they can’t really say that. They’re not going to come out in public and say that but that they did. It is an Apple invention and they want it to become a standard. “What I’ve heard is that it’s an Apple invention that was sort of developed alongside Lightning and that they donated, they gave to the standards bodies because they want the industry standard to be thin enough for their devices and they want it to be reversible.”

That makes a lot of sense to me. USB-C has a lot more in common with the design ethos of a connector like Thunderbolt than something like USB 3. What do you think?

Source: Daring Fireball