Bluetooth 5 devices will begin offering faster speeds and longer ranges over the next year

Bluetooth 5 is finally available for companies to begin building and certifying devices that work with the latest standard. First announced in June, Bluetooth 5 offers up to twice the speed and four times the range of Bluetooth 4, and the first devices with the new technology are expected to roll out within the next few months.

But in addition to the greater range and speed, the new standard is expected to work better while other wireless signals like Wi-Fi are active, which is good news for Internet of Things (IoT) and other connected devices. It does this by adapting on-the-fly to steer clear of congested airwaves, so connected devices can maintain their performance.

Of course, it remains to be seen how well these supposed gains will translate in the real world, but any improvement to speed and range will still be a nice boon to two of Bluetooth’s biggest weaknesses.

And because Bluetooth centers around device pairing, you’ll also need an entire ecosystem of Bluetooth 5 devices to notice any benefits. Smartphone, laptop, fitness tracker and other manufacturers have to adopt the new standard first (and you’ll actually have to buy them) before we can even begin to think about seeing any difference.

That said, the hope is that the upgrades will make Bluetooth a better and more attractive option for the growing number of IoT devices. Mesh networking, where Bluetooth devices act as hubs that help each other extend their effective range, is in the works as well. However, this isn’t actually part of the Bluetooth 5 standard, but it is still supposed to work with both Bluetooth 4 and 5 products.

Source: Bluetooth SIG

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