Bluetooth Speeds Are Set to Quadruple in 2027

Wireless tech is about to get a whole lot snappier. On Thursday, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, the trade association that oversees Bluetooth, officially unveiled Bluetooth High Data Throughput, a flagship upgrade set to arrive as part of the Bluetooth Core 7.0 standard. The revision supercharges Bluetooth Low Energy by pushing maximum bit rates to 7.5 Mbps, effectively quadrupling the throughput of the existing LE 2M technology. Compatible devices are slated to hit store shelves starting in 2027. That’s good news for phone users, tablet havers, laptop groupies, smart speaker stans and more. Bluetooth is still the most popular medium-to-short-range wireless standard for connecting devices. But this is a big rollout, and the changes will start with premium wireless, such as earbuds, with other applications following. Those other applications could include spatial computing, exchanging AI-related info with local devices, connecting to health wearables and a host of smart home applications, like playing Spotify through an Amazon Echo Studio or dimming a smart bulb. “Imagine a smartwatch that syncs hours’ worth of sensor-rich training data to your phone in seconds, smart glasses that deliver richer AI experiences by offloading data for processing, or a smart home product that completes a firmware update with virtually no user-visible downtime,” Øyvind Strøm, executive vice president of the short-range business unit at Nordic Semiconductor, said in a statement. “Bluetooth HDT paves the way for more sophisticated, data-intensive Bluetooth applications.” A representative from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group didn’t respond to a request for comment. What makes Bluetooth HDT so speedy? The biggest change in this update is a new physical layer for Bluetooth. Layers are like different sections of the Bluetooth protocol, and the physical layer is the bedrock of the standard, the foundational layer involved in transmitting and receiving data signals. Improvements in the physical layer can have very significant effects on all Bluetooth communications. In this case, new modulation schemes let the physical layer handle data more efficiently and transmit more data at once, which is why the speed increases are so significant. These improvements also make the new standard more efficient, saving battery life in many applications. So your smart lock may last longer before you need to exchange the AA batteries, earbuds won’t need to go back in the case as fast, and so on. Wait until next year We know the first flagship devices are expected to appear with the technology in early 2027, but don’t have an exact date. All we know about which specific devices will get the technology first is that it will start with wireless audio. With protocol changes like this, it can take some time for new products to reach the market, and manufacturers may take a long time, even years, to adopt it. Tyler has worked on, lived with and tested all types of smart home and security technology for over a dozen years, explaining the latest features, privacy tricks and top recommendations. With degrees in business management, literature and technical writing, Tyler takes every opportunity to play with the latest AI technology, push smart devices to their limits and occasionally throw cameras off his roof, all to find the best devices to trust in your life. He always checks with the renters (and pets) in his life to see what smart products can work for everyone, in every living situation. Living in beautiful Bend, Oregon, gives Tyler plenty of opportunities to test the latest tech in every kind of weather and temperature. But when not at work, he can be found hiking the trails, trying out a new food recipe for his loved ones, keeping up on his favorite reading or gaming with good friends. See full bio