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iPhone 4S Supports "Low Energy" Bluetooth 4.0

Tuesday October 4, 2011 3:05 PM PDT by Jordan Golson

Earlier this year, Apple introduced new Bluetooth 4.0 chips in the MacBook Air and Mac Mini lines. The chips include support for Bluetooth Low Energy, a specification which opens the door to a number of new kinds of Bluetooth-powered devices. In the specifications for the iPhone 4S, Apple notes Bluetooth 4.0 support is built-in.

There haven't been many products built for Bluetooth 4.0 yet, but there are a variety of possibilities:

- Find Me - electronic leash applications
- Proximity - wireless locking and unlocking, out of range alerts
- Sports / Running - stats and vitals
- Health - heart rate monitor, blood pressure, glucose monitors

Apple joined the Bluetooth board of directors in June and Bluetooth claims virtually all new smartphones will include Bluetooth 4.0 support by the end of 2012.

Top Rated Comments

chrmjenkins

172 months ago

Nice to see Apple at the forefront here. They had been lagging a bit on bluetooth standard compliance before.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

marcusj0015

172 months ago

bluetooth 4 really isn't for music, it's for Low energy, AKA a NFC competitor...

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Read All Comments

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