One thing that’s common on all the latest flagship smartphones in the market is that they run on some or the other version of Bluetooth 5. Be it the Galaxy S24 Ultra (review), the iPhone 15 Pro (review), or the Pixel 9 Pro XL, all the smartphones share the underlying Bluetooth technology, which enables them to communicate with other gadgets like TWS earbuds, smartwatches, wireless speakers, etc.
However, you would be surprised to know that Bluetooth 5 came out about years ago. Nonetheless, that is about to change as the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), which includes tech giants like Apple, Intel, and Google as members, has announced the arrival of Bluetooth 6.0.
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Bluetooth 6.0: What’s New?
In a nutshell, Bluetooth 6.0 is a new wireless transmission standard that improves upon the current generation. It ensures that devices only exchange information with each other when they really need to. This not only enhances the device’s battery life but also increases the speed with which the communication takes place.
Bluetooth 6.0 also introduces a new technology called Channel Sounding (which we’ll talk about in a bit). Further, the standard is also capable of filtering duplicate advertising packets, which stops the wireless connection from sending redundant information. Moreover, the standard is more reliable and accurate than the previous versions and promises to provide an improved user experience.
What Is Channel Sounding?
As mentioned by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), Channel Sounding is a new technology that can help Bluetooth 6.0-enabled devices determine each other’s location with high, centimeter-level accuracy. To achieve this, the standard uses phase-based ranging, a method used to figure out the distance between two points by comparing the difference in the phase of a signal transmitted at one point and received at the other.
This, in turn, can be used to calculate the distance between the source and the receiver device. For those catching up, phase refers to the state of a wave at any given point. Suppose the sender device is an AirTag, and the receiver is an iPhone; Bluetooth v6.0 will enable these devices to communicate in such a way that they improve the accuracy of the Find My network.
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The precision tracking feature will help millions of Find My or Find My Device network devices from Apple, Google, or third-party manufacturers like Tile.
How Can Channel Sounding Address Security Concerns?
In addition, Bluetooth Channel Sounding also supports multi-level security that prevents the risk of wireless-ranging attacks, which allows bad actors to determine individuals’ location using wireless devices. Moreover, developers can tune the technology to prioritize the aspect of ranging that suits their product, including security, accuracy, or latency.
The technology also ensures that digital locks only open when the authorized device is within a certain range, helping with unlocking cars with keyless entry or smart locks. This could also allow Bluetooth devices like mice, keyboards, or game controllers to automatically switch between active and inactive states based on their distance from the connected device.
Other Bluetooth 6.0 features include Decision-Based Advertising Filtering, Advertisers Monitoring, Isochronous Adaptation Layer (ISOAL) for making it possible for larger data frames to travel in smaller link-layer packets, and a Frame Space Update.
When Will Bluetooth 6.0 Be Available On Devices?
Although SIG has announced Bluetooth v6.0, it will be a while before device manufacturers can utilize and equip the technology on their devices. We believe that it would take companies like Apple, Samsung, or other consumer tech giants at least a year to adopt the new technology.
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