Bluetooth Core 7.0 HDT silicon deployment to offer 7.5 Mbps data rates. Discover more World news summaries Financial news analysis Tesla stock analysis The adoption of Bluetooth Core 7.0 in November 2026 introduces High Data Throughput (HDT) with physical layer data rates reaching up to 7.5 Mbps, wifinowglobal.com reported. This leap surges past the previous Bluetooth LE maximum of 2 Mbps, establishing a solid foundation for lossless audio, spatial computing, and industrial applications. Semiconductor manufacturers are scrambling to build compatible hardware. Qualcomm supplies the QCC5181 supporting LE Audio and Auracast alongside Snapdragon Sound technologies. Qualcomm's FastConnect 8800 integrates Wi-Fi 8, Bluetooth, UWB, and Thread, featuring announced support for Bluetooth Channel Sounding and HDT. Other major players are carving out distinct technical territory. MediaTek offers the Dimensity 9200 for LE Audio and Auracast, alongside the Filogic 380 combining Wi-Fi 7 with manufacturer-described HDT support. However, wifinowglobal.com noted that conformance of that earlier MediaTek HDT implementation with the final Bluetooth Core 7.0 specification remains unverified. Meanwhile, Silicon Labs focuses on low-power IoT with its EFR32BG24 and BG24L platforms supporting Channel Sounding development. Synaptics supplies the SYN4390 combining Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and IEEE 802.15.4 connectivity, with a published product brief explicitly confirming LE Audio and Bluetooth Channel Sounding distance measurement. Audio infrastructure relies heavily on broadcast advances like Auracast. The core of this technology is LE Audio, which uses the LC3 codec developed by Fraunhofer IIS in collaboration with Ericsson and the Bluetooth SIG to offer a better ratio of audio quality to energy consumption. Component developers are pushing licensable silicon IP to accelerate this transition. CEVA provides licensable Bluetooth IP supporting LE Audio, Auracast, Channel Sounding, and HDT up to 7.5 Mbps, with more than ten HDT IP licensees disclosed, including Actions Technology's ATS296X audio chipset family. Nordic Semiconductor demonstrated prototype HDT silicon in October 2026 and is developing an HDT-capable SoC, complementing its nRF54 family which provides Channel Sounding capabilities. Discover more News subscription service Business news updates 21/07/2026 In "Entertainment" 22/07/2026 In "Entertainment" JBL Charge 6 Review: A New Benchmark for Portable Audio Power JBL has officially upped the ante in the portable audio market, transforming a proven formula into a sophisticated powerhouse of sound and durability. The industry is buzzing as the successor to one of the most beloved Bluetooth speakers ever... 02/05/2026 In "Technology"

Bluetooth's biggest sound quality upgrade is coming in 2027. By Jolina Landicho Published on October 23, 2026 Headphonesty independently review all its recommendations. Purchases made via its links may earn Headphonesty a commission. Learn more Apple, Samsung, and Qualcomm could play major roles in how widely this technology becomes available. You can pay for lossless music on Spotify or Apple Music and still lose some of that audio quality when listening through Bluetooth headphones. That's a problem the Bluetooth SIG hopes to address with a new lossless standard expected around 2027. The plan is to make CD-quality wireless audio work across more brands, giving buyers more freedom to choose their gear. However, the new standard requires hardware that current headphones lack, and there's still no date for when compatible products will go on sale. Here's what Headphonesty know so far. Table of Contents Why a software update can't fix it. The upcoming lossless standard is being developed around Bluetooth Low Energy (LE), the technology behind LE Audio. Its current maximum radio data rate is 2 megabits per second (Mbps), which the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) considers too limited for its planned lossless audio system. To get around that limit, the SIG is developing Bluetooth High Data Throughput (HDT), which raises the maximum to 7.5 Mbps. But there's a catch. HDT requires a new radio mode built into the Bluetooth chip itself. Software can make use of features the chip already supports, but it cannot add a radio capability that was never there. Bluetooth SIG technical marketing engineer Gongyu Lu made that clear at an October 2025 briefing. "To support high data throughput, a software update or the like to existing LE Audio products won't do; a hardware update is required," Lu said. And replacing your headphones is only half the equation. ABI Research's Andrew Zignani pointed out in a September 2026 analysis that the phone or other device sending the music also needs HDT hardware. Both the headphones and the source device must support HDT to use the faster connection. Otherwise, they fall back to existing LE capabilities. Who can already get lossless over Bluetooth. For now, Qualcomm's proprietary aptX Lossless is one of the few ways to get CD-quality lossless audio over Bluetooth from a phone. With a strong enough connection, it can stream at around 1.1 to 1.2 Mbps. But finding compatible headphones is only part of the challenge. aptX Lossless requires compatible support in both the phone and headphones. Having only one compatible device isn't enough. That rules out some of the biggest smartphone brands, as Samsung and Google do not support aptX Lossless on their phones, while iPhones don't support any version of aptX. Meanwhile, AirPods instead use AAC over ordinary Bluetooth, which Apple confirms is lossy. The bitrate is reportedly around 256 kbps (although Apple hasn't published an official figure). Still, some AirPods can deliver lossless audio in specific setups. AirPods Max models with USB-C support wired lossless playback, while certain AirPods earbuds can receive lossless audio from Apple Vision Pro. Ordinary Bluetooth playback from an iPhone remains lossy. Sony offers another high-bitrate option with LDAC, which can reach 990 kbps. However, it still discards audio data, so it isn't lossless either. With so many competing formats, buyers have to check which phones and headphones actually work together, which is a problem Bluetooth SIG marketing chief Ken Kolderup acknowledged during an October 2025 briefing. A shared standard could make lossless audio available across more brands, provided manufacturers adopt it and both devices support it. Apple's adoption is still an open question. Apple is already involved in discussions about the new standard, but that doesn't mean its devices will support it. At an October 2025 briefing, Bluetooth SIG marketing chief Ken Kolderup confirmed that Apple executives were participating in the talks. Still, he was careful not to promise anything: "Not just Apple: whether to adopt a feature is up to each company, so we don't know. But our current sense is that their interest is very high, because Apple executives are taking part and are discussing the standard right now," Kolderup said. So far, that interest hasn't turned into a product announcement. Plus, as of October 2026, Apple's official accessory design guidelines still specify sending iPhone audio over Classic Bluetooth using AAC. And Apple's decision could matter well beyond iPhone owners. In a September 2026 interview, for instance, Qualcomm's Andrew Laister pointed to Apple and Samsung as major phone makers whose adoption could bring the shared standard to a much wider audience. When you can actually buy it. The Bluetooth SIG has a timetable for the technology, but not for the headphones. At an October 15, 2026 briefing in Tokyo, the group said HDT is expected to enter the Bluetooth Core specification in November 2026, with the lossless audio standard following in 2027. That's a delay from its October 2025 plans, when HDT was targeted for October 2026 and the lossless standard was expected shortly afterward. Still, chipmakers are already preparing for the faster connection. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 lists HDT support, although that doesn't guarantee phones using the chip will enable it. And HDT support alone doesn't mean a device can use the upcoming lossless standard. There are also two industry events coming up. The SIG has promised a "new premium wireless audio" announcement at CES in January 2027, followed by interoperability testing in Kyoto in March, where manufacturers can test their devices against one another. But neither event guarantees that compatible products will be ready to buy. The Bluetooth SIG expects to establish its lossless audio standard around 2027, but it hasn't announced when compatible headphones or phones will go on sale. That leaves buyers with a decision to make. If you're shopping for headphones now, it's best to judge them by what they can deliver with your current devices, rather than features that may arrive later. Buyers will need explicit support for the new lossless standard on both the headphones and the source device. A generic Bluetooth version number won't be enough.[/bq] Filed Under: