Samsung has just launched the Galaxy Tab S12+ and Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra, which ship with Bluetooth 6.0 and were announced alongside the Galaxy SmartTag 3. The two tablets bring several upgrades over their predecessors, the Galaxy Tab S10+ and Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, which carried Bluetooth 5.3 and Bluetooth 5.4 respectively.
Bluetooth 6.0 and more precise device ranging
One of the most notable changes in Bluetooth 6.0 is Channel Sounding, a capability that lets compatible devices measure distance between each other with far greater precision. Under suitable conditions, Channel Sounding can deliver centimeter-level accuracy, similar to UWB, enabling the Tab S12 series to locate compatible trackers such as the Galaxy SmartTag 3 and other location devices with much greater precision.
Improved efficiency, latency and reliability
Bluetooth 6.0 also includes features aimed at more efficient connections and better audio performance. Decision-Based Advertising Filtering (DBAF) reduces unnecessary scanning for advertising packets, which can make device discovery more efficient. Monitoring Advertisers makes it more efficient for a device to check whether another Bluetooth device remains in range, potentially improving power efficiency. For Bluetooth LE Audio use cases, the standard enhances the Isochronous Adaptation Layer (ISOAL), which can reduce latency and improve reliability, and introduces more flexible timing between Bluetooth transmissions so connected devices can negotiate spacing between packets. Overall, Bluetooth 6.0 brings improvements to ranging and location accuracy, device discovery, latency, power efficiency, and reliability for certain Bluetooth LE Audio scenarios.
