Bluetooth 5.0: What’s Different, and Why it Matters
Modern smartphones and other devices, from the iPhone 8 and iPhone X to the Samsung Galaxy S8, advertise support for “Bluetooth 5.0” on their specifications list. Here’s what’s new in the latest and greatest version of Bluetooth. What is Bluetooth? Bluetooth 5.0 is the latest version of the Bluetooth wireless communication standard. It’s commonly used for wireless headphones and other audio hardware, as well as wireless keyboards, mice, and game controllers. Bluetooth is also used for communication between various smart home and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. A new version of the Bluetooth standard means various improvements, but only when used with compatible peripherals. In other words, you won’t see any immediate benefit from upgrading to a phone with Bluetooth 5.0 if all your Bluetooth accessories were designed for an older version of Bluetooth. Bluetooth is backwards compatible, however, so you can continue using your existing Bluetooth 4.2 and older devices with a Bl