Microsoft says Surface PCs don't have Thunderbolt for security reasons

One of the criticisms around Microsoft's Surface lineup is that it's been slow to adopt new technologies, whether it's the latest CPUs or the latest ports. With this year's lineup, the firm finally included USB Type-C on its Surface Pro 7 and Laptop 3; however, there's still no Thunderbolt 3.

Thunderbolt 3 is an Intel technology that offers 40Gbps data transfer speeds, and you can use it for things like connecting an external GPU or setting up multiple 4K monitors. Every OEM except for Microsoft has adopted it in their premium PCs, and some of them have even started including it in mainstream laptops.

Being an Intel technology, you might have assumed that the reason it's not in the latest generation is because Microsoft used such a diverse range of chips. The 15-inch Surface Laptop 3 has AMD processors, and the Surface Pro X has a Qualcomm SoC. You'd be wrong though, because as it turns out, Microsoft says Thunderbolt 3 is insecure, according to a video tweeted by Microsoft leakster WalkingCat.

Along with Thunderbolt, the video explains why Surface PCs don't have expandable or replaceable memory. Microsoft says you'd be able to freeze the memory in liquid nitrogen and put it in a reader to access data like BitLocker recovery keys. You can watch the full video above.

What's interesting is that this would seemingly be confirmation that Microsoft has no plans to use Thunderbolt 3; otherwise, the above presentation makes for a pretty bizarre statement. Of course, every other OEM has been using Thunderbolt 3 for several years now. Those include Apple, HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, ASUS, and more.