Technical Editor 2 - Specification and Testing

Bluetooth HDT: LE gets a fourfold speed boost in late 2026. Bluetooth LE is getting nearly four times faster. HDT takes speeds from 2 Mbps to 7.5 Mbps - here's what it means for earbuds, and what you'll have to buy new. Bluetooth LE is about to get nearly four times faster. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has announced High Data Throughput (HDT), a feature that raises LE's maximum data rate from 2 Mbps to 7.5 Mbps, and expects to adopt it in the next Bluetooth Core Specification release, anticipated in late 2026. HDT exists because LE has hit a ceiling. Two megabits a second is fine for a pair of earbuds, but it leaves no room for lossless audio streams, quick file transfers, or the sensor data that wearables keep generating. The SIG's pitch is that HDT delivers the speed without surrendering the low power draw that makes LE the battery-friendly option: transfers finish faster, so radios can spend more of their time asleep. How HDT fits more bits through the air. The headline change is a new physical layer using QPSK and QAM modulation to pack more bits into each radio signal, at rates of 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7.5 Mbps. Forward error correction and a block-based packet structure - payloads up to roughly 8,000 bytes, with per-block checksums - keep links reliable at speed, and devices can switch rates packet by packet when the radio environment turns hostile. Security hardens too: message integrity checks grow from 32 bits to 64 or 128, and encryption keys can be refreshed per link type. What a faster Bluetooth actually buys you. The most visible payoff is audio. Today's LE Audio tops out with the LC3 codec; lossless and high-resolution streams need the headroom HDT provides. The SIG expects earbuds, headphones and speakers to stream hi-res music in the coming years, alongside faster over-the-air firmware updates and larger device-to-device file transfers. Apple's AirPods Pro 3 and the rest of the best earbuds in the UAE will have to wait for new silicon to benefit. The chips are already moving. Rohde & Schwarz and Realtek demonstrated what they billed as the industry's first HDT test setup in March, built around Realtek's next-generation combo chip and Bluetooth audio silicon. "Bluetooth LE High Data Throughput is a key enabler for the next wave of immersive audio and seamless connectivity experiences." That is Yee-Wei Huang, vice president and spokesman at Realtek. In plainer terms, Realtek intends to sell chips with HDT inside - and wants its customers to know they can be tested before the specification is even final. Until the spec lands, the draft HDT specification is public for developers to pick over. Existing devices will not get faster: HDT is a hardware change, and every earbud, watch and phone that wants it needs a new radio. When will Bluetooth HDT actually arrive? Will my current earbuds or phone get faster Bluetooth? Why not just use Wi-Fi instead of a faster Bluetooth? NEWSLETTERS Two newsletters. Zero noise. Pick what lands in your inbox. Unsubscribe anytime. Tbreak Media don't share your email.

Future Galaxy devices could support lossless audio over Bluetooth. Bluetooth SIG is working on Hi-Res, lossless audio, and several other modern technologies. Reading time: 3 minutes Abhijeet Mishra / SamMobile Galaxy Buds 4 Pro hands on 15 - Source: Abhijeet Mishra / SamMobile While Galaxy phones and tablets include high-quality Bluetooth audio codecs like aptX, SSC, and SSC UHQ, none of them support truly lossless audio. That could change in the future, as the Bluetooth SIG is working on several audio technologies, including high-resolution and lossless audio without the need for third-party audio codecs. The Bluetooth SIG, which oversees the development and licensing of Bluetooth, has revealed that it is working on several enhancements that will arrive in the future. Future versions of Bluetooth will bring native support for high-resolution, lossless, and spatial audio. Samsung Semiconductor Bluetooth Logo - Source: Samsung Semiconductor It is also working on several wireless audio enhancements that could be included directly in future versions of Bluetooth. These include high-resolution audio, lossless audio, spatial audio, surround sound, and sound exposure monitoring. Powered By Galaxy S26 Review - What's Wrong with it? Using codecs like aptX Lossless and LDAC and spatial audio technologies like Dolby Atmos require wireless earbuds makers to pay a certain licensing fees to respective brands. If Bluetooth SIG brings native support for lossless and spatial audio, brands won't have to pay a licensing fee, and they can make earbuds and headphones cheaper. Bluetooth SIG Bluetooth Auracast Logo - Source: Bluetooth SIG Enhancements to Auracast's coverage and capacity are also being developed. The Bluetooth SIG is creating a standardized method for Bluetooth Auracast-based audio devices that do not have a display, such as Bluetooth hearing aids, allowing them to join audio broadcasts more easily. Native support for voice assistants, faster data rates, and wired connection-like latency. Native support for voice assistants is also being added to Bluetooth. This will allow Alexa, Bixby, Gemini, and other voice assistants to be integrated into Bluetooth earbuds and headphones more easily, which will benefit brands that manufacture such devices. Bixby SDC 2023 - Source: Samsung Higher data transfer speeds of up to 8Mbps will be possible using Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) with the High Data Throughput PHY mode. This will significantly increase data transfer speeds between devices. Currently, the maximum speed is limited to 2Mbps with Bluetooth 5.x. Bluetooth currently operates in the 2.4GHz spectrum, but the Bluetooth SIG is developing support for Bluetooth LE in the unlicensed mid-band spectrum, including 5GHz and 6GHz, similar to Wi-Fi. This could bring notable performance improvements. The Bluetooth SIG is also working on making human interface devices (HIDs) such as wireless gaming controllers as fast as wired controllers by reducing latency. It plans to support polling rates as high as 1000Hz, which are often seen in high-end gaming mice with custom USB receivers. This could make controllers, keyboards, mice, and other sensors more responsive for AR, MR, and VR devices. It is not yet clear when these enhancements will arrive or which Bluetooth version will include them. Some features could arrive sooner, while others may take several years. However, it is interesting to see the amount of development underway to improve the flexibility and performance of the Bluetooth standard. First Samsung device: T100. Asif is a computer engineer turned technology journalist. He has been using Samsung phones since 2004, and his current smartphone is the Galaxy S23 Ultra. He loves headphones, mechanical keyboards, and PC hardware. When not writing about technology, he likes watching crime and science fiction movies and TV shows.