Bluetooth bandwidth is in talks to double in the next few years, with the biggest update its seen in years.
The company have admitted to wanting to raise the current bandwidth of the wireless transmission protocol from approximately “4Mbps to 6Mbps, maybe up to 8Mbps.” There are plans to starts exploring the 6GHz frequency band as well in order for faster transmission.
Bluetooth 5.0 currently offer variable speeds from 125Kbps to 2Mbps. 4Mbps is what is needed to transfer lossless 24-bit/96kHz hi-res audio.
Chuck Sabin, the SIG’s senior director of market development has said, “When you ask us, ‘Well, when is this going to happen?’ It’s really too early to talk about timing but we do see this as securing the next 20-years-plus of performance enhancements for Bluetooth technology and the drive for more and more devices taking advantage of Bluetooth technology.”
The announcement indicates a future for all headphones and speakers being capable of hi-res audio playback.
Audio manufacturers are also exploring Wi-Fi usage to deliver speeds necessary to listen to lossless audio.
Wi-Fi 6 is able to reach speeds of 9.6Gbps, however the user must stay connected to the home network.
It has been confirmed that Bluetooth SIG is staying focused on Bluetooth LE and bringing it to more devices as well as implementing Auracast technology in more spaces.
This will allow Bluetooth devices to conserve more battery life with lower-powered compression algorithms.
It also allows location-based Bluetooth where users can connect to a single source simultaneously.
Bluetooth SIG can only control the development not the implementation. This is up to device manufacturers such as Sony, LG and more, therefore it’s unclear how soon these features will become available.
