Future Samsung Galaxy devices may support lossless audio via Bluetooth
Although Galaxy phones and tablets include high-quality Bluetooth audio codecs such as aptX, SSC, and SSC UHQ, none of them support truly lossless audio. That may change in the future, as the Bluetooth SIG is working on more audio technologies, including high-resolution audio and lossless audio without the need for third-party audio codecs.
The Bluetooth SIG, which is responsible for the development and licensing of Bluetooth, has revealed that it is working on many improvements to come in the future.
Future versions of Bluetooth will bring native support for high-resolution, lossless, and spatial audio
Samsung Semiconductor
It also works on wireless audio enhancements that can be incorporated directly into future Bluetooth versions. These include high-resolution audio, lossless audio, spatial audio, surround sound, and audio exposure monitoring.
Since using aptX Lossless and LDAC requires wireless earphone manufacturers to pay a certain license fee, if Bluetooth SIG brings native support for lossless audio, brands do not need to pay their license fee, and can make earbuds and headphones cheaper.
Bluetooth SIG
Enhancements to Auracast coverage and power are also being developed. The Bluetooth SIG is creating a standardized way for Bluetooth Auracast-based audio devices that don’t have a display, such as Bluetooth headsets, that allow them to easily join audio streams.
Native support for voice assistants, faster data rates, and latency similar to wired connections
Native support for voice assistants is also being added to Bluetooth. This will allow Alexa, Bixby, Gemini, and other voice assistants to be integrated into Bluetooth earbuds and headphones easily, which will benefit the brands that produce those devices.
Samsung
A maximum data transfer speed of up to 8Mbps will be realized using Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) with High Data Throughput PHY mode. This will greatly increase the speed of data transfer between devices. Currently, maximum speed is limited to 2Mbps with Bluetooth 5.x.
Bluetooth currently operates in the 2.4GHz spectrum, but the Bluetooth SIG is developing support for Bluetooth LE in the mid-band and unlicensed spectrum, including 5GHz and 6GHz, similar to Wi-Fi. This can bring significant performance improvements.
The Bluetooth SIG is also working to make human interaction devices (HIDs) like wireless game controllers as fast as wired controllers by reducing latency. It plans to support polling rates up to 1000Hz, which are often seen in high-end gaming mice with custom USB receivers. This can make controllers, keyboards, mice, and other sensors more responsive for AR, MR, and VR devices.
It is not yet clear when these upgrades will arrive or which version of Bluetooth they will include. Some features may come soon, while others may take a few years. However, it is interesting to see the amount of development going on to improve the flexibility and performance of the Bluetooth standard.
