Stocks · World Stock PushZDNET’s key takeaways Reports suggest that Apple will announce 3 new smart home products. Each one will see upgrades to Wi-Fi, Thread, and Bluetooth connectivity. Improved Bluetooth is what will make your home truly intelligent.
Apple’s “Welcome Home” event, showcasing its latest smart home innovations, is scheduled for tomorrow, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said that Apple will announce a smart home hub display, a new streaming box, and a new smart home speaker. The Apple HomeView, Apple TV 4K, and HomePod Mini are all expected to debut with significant connectivity upgrades, including Wi-Fi, Thread, and Bluetooth. Also: Apple could unveil a ‘HomePad’ this month – and I have a wish list More from ZDNET Harnessing improved presence sensing Apple has integrated Bluetooth Low Energy into several devices across its ecosystem.
Bluetooth Low Energy powers swift identification and proximity sensing when pairing one device to another, as seen in pop-up pairing when connecting a new pair of AirPods, unlocking your MacBook with your Apple Watch, or using Handoff to relay information from your iPhone to your iPad. Leaked specs suggest that the upcoming HomeView will debut with Bluetooth 6 via Apple’s N1 networking chip, enabling the smart home hub to leverage modern Bluetooth Low Energy features. I suspect that, like all Apple devices, the HomeView will be connected to an iCloud account, and perhaps a shared family iCloud in this context.
With that in mind, I can imagine the HomeView showcasing ambient, generalized widgets, such as Weather, shared Calendar insights, and Clock. Also: I spoke with Bluetooth reps about the future of connected audio, and it’s cooler than I expected With Bluetooth Low Energy, the HomeView would periodically scan for advertising packets, or small units of digital data, to detect nearby devices. When a familiar device is in range, HomeView would display relevant widgets for that specific Apple device, showing personalized content and pertinent information.
Additionally, Bluetooth Low Energy could automatically exchange network credentials to any new devices you set up, similar to how AirPods automatically pair to an iPhone or Mac. Finally, the major reason for leveraging upgraded Bluetooth protocols within Apple’s smart home devices is security and reliability. Wi-Fi networks can go down, leaving solely Wi-Fi-connected smart locks, keypads, and alarms vulnerable or rendered useless.
Also: How Apple accidentally turned the Mac into an absolute AI monster Bluetooth doesn’t face the same vulnerability; in the event of a power outage, you can remain confident that your smart locks, sensors, and keypads will maintain a connection, though it may be a simpler one, to your smart home hub and controllers. Enhanced spatial awareness via Bluetooth Low Energy will also improve the upcoming Apple TV 4K’s experience, too. Though Bluetooth Channel Sounding is still in the development phase within the Apple ecosystem, Bluetooth Low Energy’s device presence sensing may improve personalization.
For example, the Apple TV 4K can also periodically scan for advertising packets, and improvements to the Bluetooth stack may make automatic AirPods pairing swifter. Low-power, low-latency, high-performance Leaks suggest that Apple will upgrade the Apple TV 4K’s Bluetooth standard from Bluetooth 5 to Bluetooth 6. Alongside improved presence sensing and device discovery, Bluetooth Low Energy’s best characteristic is that it’s, well, low energy.
You likely have over a dozen Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-connected devices in your home, and if you have several smart home devices, that number may be closer to 30. The majority of these devices use the 2.4GHz frequency band, and if you live in a dense area, you’re bound to experience some network congestion. Also: Your Bose headphones are getting a major Bluetooth upgrade – what to expect The Apple TV 4K’s Bluetooth 6 upgrade can alleviate this issue by sending packets only when necessary, rather than relying on Bluetooth 5’s characteristic of maintaining continuous scanning, which wastes power and radio activity.
Bluetooth calls this upgrade Decision-Based Advertising Filtering. You’ll experience less power demand on your Siri remotes and Bluetooth controllers connected to the new Apple TV 4K, and you’ll find that your connected device won’t interfere with neighboring devices as frequently. Additionally, I expect gaming on Apple Arcade and AirPods connected to Apple TV 4K to experience lower latency.
I don’t expect Apple to leverage LE Audio, as it’s very comfortable with its in-house audio sharing and broadcasting features. However, Bluetooth Low Energy (which is a completely different protocol from LE Audio) would improve spatial awareness for audio handoff to HomePods in a stereo setup, Spatial Audio head-tracking, and lip-sync timing when watching with AirPods. Looking to the future During this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced that iPhones with Apple’s N1 networking chip would support Bluetooth Channel Sounding, the standardized wireless fine-ranging localization technology.
With leaks suggesting that Apple will equip its upcoming smart home devices with this chip, I would guess that the technology will come to HomeKit and other interconnected Apple devices in the near future. Also: Your iPhone may support BT Channel Sounding – it’s a big deal Apple’s integration of Channel Sounding across its device ecosystem may look like securely unlocking a smart lock with your Apple Watch. It could also mean eliminating friction with smart garage doors by no longer relying on geofencing and instead using the exact distance of your iPhone to open the door.
The possibilities are endless with Channel Sounding, and Apple’s integration of it makes far more sense in a smart home context than in a personal Apple device ecosystem. It’s fun to think about, but Apple noted that third-party device-makers must implement Bluetooth 6.3 to unlock Channel Sounding within the Apple ecosystem. Bluetooth 6.1 was released in May 2025, and very few devices with this standard are just coming to market.
It will be some time before Bluetooth 6.3 makes its way into our hands. For now, you can look forward to improved presence sensing and lower latency; in the future, much more. Bluetooth is no longer the technology you should think about only when wirelessly connecting one device to another — it’s making your home much smarter right under your nose.
Source: ZDNET
