We don’t have iPhones with Bluetooth 6 but—in actual fact, solely a pair second-tier Android telephones even declare to assist it to date. However that’s not stopping the Bluetooth group, which is preserving with its twice-a-year cadence and saying the Bluetooth 6.1 spec.
You’ll recall the Bluetooth 6 spec added a formidable new Channel Sounding functionality that will give it centimeter-accurate location and distance monitoring just like Extremely Wideband, along with some new options that may enhance latency and throughput.
The Bluetooth 6.1 replace is targeted on a brand new function known as Randomized RPA (Resolvable Personal Handle). This function permits for the timing of RPA tackle modifications, which improves privateness. Your Bluetooth gadget and people it connects to can change tackle at instances that may’t be predicted, which makes it more durable for snooping gadgets to trace your exercise or location. To enhance energy effectivity, this tackle change operation might be offloaded to the Bluetooth controller as a substitute of the gadget’s CPU, which is able to save battery life.
We count on the primary premium telephones to assist Bluetooth 6 someday this fall, and that would very nicely embody the iPhone 17. It’s fairly potential these will assist these new Bluetooth 6.1 options as nicely, particularly given Apple’s enthusiasm for privateness and energy effectivity.
