The next-gen wireless transmission standard dubbed Bluetooth 5 is poised to make its debut in the coming week.
Advertisement
Bluetooth 5, the latest version of the wireless communications technology, is set to be formally introduced next week, on 16 June, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) has announced.
Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.
Mark Powell, executive director of Bluetooth SIG, said in a statement: “Bluetooth 5 will provide significant new functionality for connectionless services like location-relevant information and navigation”.
These are the devices, increasingly dotted around retail stores and other venues, that are used to track smartphone users (by telling apps and services exactly where they are) and send them location-based information. Additionally, the update is expected to increase Bluetooth speed four-fold, while significantly extending its range.
For more on Bluetooth, watch our video.
There’s some confusion as to whether devices will be able to add Bluetooth 5 support via a firmware upgrade, or whether the updated standard will only be supported by hardware designed with it in mind. Let us see in detail what exciting new changes Bluetooth 5 is going to bring. The using of a simplified name such as “Bluetooth 5” is meant to not only communicate that this is a major revision of the protocol, but eliminating references to things like a point number makes marketing and consumer understanding easier.
Advertisement
Bluetooth 5 will offer broader support for smart home devices, and expand upon the standard’s integration with the Internet of Things. This has traditionally been the case for significant Bluetooth releases in the past. During October 2015, Apple added Bluetooth 4.2 support to the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPad Air 2, which brought in almost 2.5 times the speed difference when transferring data using this medium.
