Bluetooth 5.2 vs Bluetooth 5.3: What’s the difference?

Bluetooth, a low-power wireless streaming technology designed for device-to-device communication, is getting more powerful and essential as the number of wireless devices we’re constantly connecting to increases.  Bluetooth isn’t just used for wireless audio – arguably the most popular use-case for a modern smartphone – it’s also being used to stay connected with our smartwatches, laptops, and other accessories. 

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Each new generation of Bluetooth, currently at version 5.3, is designed to address these increasing demands while still staying true to the original aim of Bluetooth – being a low-power device-to-device connection protocol.  

Evolution of Bluetooth 5 series

Before we check out what’s new with Bluetooth 5.3, it’ll help to look back on what Bluetooth 5.0 brought to the table. Bluetooth 5.0 was a major upgrade over the 4.x version of Bluetooth, primarily because it almost doubled the data transfer speed while quadrupling the range.  

Bluetooth 5.1 took a step further with higher precision location-enabled services that allowed compatible devices to determine each other’s location and direction. This is of course useful for services that are like Apple’s Find My, and for tracking via Bluetooth-enabled tags. 

Bluetooth 5.2: Audio improvements

The major updates Bluetooth 5.2 brought to the table included LE Audio – a low-energy audio transmission protocol that significantly reduced energy consumption while also improving audio quality, as well as the Low Complexity Communications Codec (LC3) which allowed for more efficient communication when using multiple Bluetooth devices simultaneously. 

Bluetooth 5.3: Improved efficiency, signal strength, and security

Bluetooth 5.3 introduced several new features designed for improving the strength of connections between devices, improving the efficiency of communication by reducing wasted energy, and better security in the form of support for stronger and faster encryption. 

1. Periodic Advertising Enhancement:

When pairing Bluetooth devices, say wireless earbuds, to your phone, the earbuds are the ‘advertiser’ and broadcast relevant information at fixed intervals. The receiving device listens to those broadcasts and determines how and when to connect to the advertiser. 

The advertiser broadcasts continuously and with a lot of duplicate and redundant data which the receiver processes by default. Bluetooth 5.3 reduces the energy wasted processing the duplicate information that’s being broadcasted. 

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2. Channel Classification Enhancement:

Normally, when a Bluetooth host (your phone for example) is connected to a Bluetooth device (your earbuds), the host determines which radio frequency channels are used to communicate with the device. Since these channels are shared by all Bluetooth devices in your vicinity, some of these channels may be congested and the host device will flag them.  

Bluetooth 5.3 now allows a device like your earbuds or smartwatch to do the same. This improves the efficiency of communication between the devices by helping maintain a stronger, more reliable signal. 

3. Connection Subrating:

Related to the Channel Classification Enhancement is the new Connection Subrating feature. A Bluetooth device can switch between a high energy and low energy state for data transmission and reception depending on the need.  

For example, if your earbuds are just in your ears and not receiving or transmitting audio, they can go into a sort of low energy sleep state till they’re needed. When you receive a call or you play a video, they switch to a high energy state to transmit and receive data quickly. This switching process was much slower earlier, and Bluetooth 5.3 speeds it up significantly.

Bluetooth is an essential and ubiquitous technology in a world that is now overflowing with all manner of low-energy smart devices. From watches to earbuds to smart rings and health equipment, all these devices want to connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth.  

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Bluetooth protocol updates simply help the technology keep pace with the world around us by ensuring that your wireless connection supports the features and capabilities that the modern world demands.