Apple Watch Ultra, Apple Watch Series 8, and Apple Watch SE (second-generation) support the new Bluetooth 5.3 standard.
At the time of launch, Apple’s website listed Bluetooth 5.0 standard for the new Apple Watch Series 8 and SE 2. The company has updated the tech specs page for the latest smartwatches which states that all new models support Bluetooth 5.3.
The advanced Bluetooth 5.3 standard offers security enhancements, reduced interference due to better connectivity, improved efficiency, and much more. It is now available on Apple Watch Ultra, Series 8, SE (second-generation), iPhone 14 series, and AirPods Pro 2.
Support Bluetooth 5.3 LE Audio support might come to new Apple Watches, AirPods Pro 2, and iPhone 14 in future
Although all of the newly launched Apple products support Bluetooth 5.3, the company does not mention support for LE Audio.
One of the new audio technologies in Bluetooth 5.3 is LE Audio, short for Low Energy Audio, which improves audio quality at lower bitrates and energy usage, as well as enables multi-device connectivity without the need of switching between devices.
A filing discovered in August listed Bluetooth 5.4 as the host subsystem specification name for future products. And soon after the Bluetooth LE Audio specs were finalized, Apple released an AirPods Max beta firmware that enabled support for the updated LC3 codec (Low Complexity Communication Codec) to deliver improvement in audio quality without any drops and power efficiency.
As Bluetooth LE Audio implementation requires the LC3 codec, it is still expected that Apple would adopt the tech across new products in the future, especially the new AirPods Pro 2.
It would enable improved experiences between AirPods Pro 2 and non-Apple devices, which is probably not something that the company would want to announce since it wants consumers to stay in its ecosystem.
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