The Bluetooth Special Interest Group, a global community of over 30,000 companies “serving to unify, harmonize and drive innovation in the vast range of connected devices all around us,” has announced that the next generation Bluetooth 5.0 standard has been officially approved and adopted, allowing manufacturers to build it into their devices.

Bluetooth 5.0 is a relatively major update to the wireless connection standard. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group promises greater range, speed, and broadcasting message capabilities.

With 4x range, 2x speed and 8x broadcasting message capacity, the enhancements of Bluetooth 5 focus on increasing the functionality of Bluetooth for the IoT. These features, along with improved interoperability and coexistence with other wireless technologies, continue to advance the IoT experience by enabling simple and effortless interactions across the vast range of connected devices.

Many internet connected devices in the home utilize Bluetooth technology to communicate with each other, and the new standard should offer a smoother experience, given the increased speed and range.

Another interesting tidbit that the Bluetooth Special Interest Group announced is the removal of all references to version and point number from this point forward, which should simplify marketing, but ultimately make it more difficult for users to determine which version of Bluetooth is included in a given device.

Now that the Bluetooth 5.0 standard has been approved, it could take anywhere from 2-6 months for devices that include it to be shipped. Given their desire to be on the cutting edge, it’s expected that Apple will include Bluetooth 5.0 technology in their new products to be announced next year, including the iPhone 7S (or iPhone 8, because who really knows what Apple is going to do next) and iPad Pro models. Apple won’t be the only ones to add the new technology, as it definitely shouldn’t be long before Bluetooth 5.0 is the standard on pretty much every device sold.

You can learn more about Bluetooth 5.0 and the Bluetooth Special Interest Group at Bluetooth.com