AirPods Pro 2 and iPhone 14 might get a much-wanted audio upgrade TechRadar Skip to main content TechRadar is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's why you can trust us. AirPods Pro 2 and iPhone 14 might get a much-wanted audio upgrade By Matt Bolton published 26 August 2022 New Bluetooth should keep the music going even when the connection gets rough Just imagine how happy this AirPods Pro-loving man would be with some extra next-gen audio tech. (Image credit: TechRadar) Audio player loading… Apple has recently filed a declaration saying it intends to use a more advanced version of Bluetooth than it ever has before, which is potentially a great sign for iPhone 14 and AirPods Pro 2, because it would enable a couple of very useful audio upgrades. Spotted by MacRumors (opens in new tab), the Apple filing with Bluetooth's control group (opens in new tab) means that the company could start including Bluetooth 5.2 in future products, which it hasn't done so far. The filing actually references Bluetooth 5.3, but MacRumors points out that Apple always files for one version above the Bluetooth version it uses in practice, for some reason. Why do we care about which version of Bluetooth Apple is using? Because Bluetooth 5.2 has one particular new feature that very useful, although admittedly it's – shall we say – a practical one rather than a wildly exciting one. It's called LE Audio, and it's designed to give you better audio quality, especially when the connection between your phone and your headphones gets weak. The claim from Bluetooth's official site is that the new system can sound better than current Bluetooth audio even when it's only able to use 50% as much data in the connection. This means that with LE Audio devices, you could go much further from your device, or have more walls/interference between your phone and your headphones before the sound cuts out. If should just feel more reliable and flexible. It also means there's the potential for longer battery life from AirPods that use it, because it could transmit in good quality, but much more efficiently. That's assuming Apple implements it, of course. It's a feature that has to be specifically supported in products, so just having Bluetooth 5.2 in your phone and earbuds doesn't necessarily mean you actually get LE Audio. Easier audio sharing The other interesting feature that Bluetooth 5.2 supports is AuraCast, which is a way of sharing audio over Bluetooth with lots of devices at once, which hasn't been possible in the past. There are lots of suggested uses for this: if supported in AirPods, it could enable you to connect to a shared screen in a public place to get personal audio from it; if supported on iPhone, it could mean you can share your music or sound from a video to multiple headphones from any manufacturer (as long as they also support AuraCast). It could be like the audio sharing that AirPods currently have, but on steroids. Neither of these features can be added to the iPhone 13 or earlier, or any existing AirPods (including the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max), because they all only support Bluetooth 5.0 at most. So even though a .2 upgrade doesn't sound like much, we're hoping it'll make a big difference. Matt BoltonSenior Editor, TV & AudioMatt is TechRadar's Senior Editor for TV and Audio, meaning he's in charge of persuading our team of reviewers to watch gorgeous TVs and listen to fantastic speakers and headphones. It's a tough task, as you can imagine. Matt has over a decade of experience in tech publishing, and previously ran the TV & audio coverage for our colleagues at T3.com, and before that he edited T3 magazine. During his career, he's also contributed to places as varied as Creative Bloq, PC Gamer, PetsRadar, MacLife, and Edge. TV and movie nerdism is his speciality, and he goes to the cinema three times a week. He's always happy to explain the virtues of Dolby Vision over a drink, but he might need to use props, like he's explaining the offside rule. See more Mobile phones news TechRadar Newsletter Sign up to get breaking news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more, plus the hottest tech deals! Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. MOST POPULARMOST SHARED1The iPhone 14 Pro is made of the wrong stuff; the Pixel 7 proves that to me2Blizzard made me explain Overwatch 2 smurfing to my mum for nothing3Nvidia RTX 4090 Ti reportedly canned due to sky-high power consumption4Apple October launches: the new devices we might see this month5RTX 4090 too expensive? Nvidia resurrects another old favorite1Logitech's latest webcam and headset want to relieve your work day frustrations2Best offers on Laptops for Education – this festive season3Apple October launches: the new devices we might see this month4Google's AI editing tricks are making Photoshop irrelevant for most people5Best laptops for designers and coders Technology Magazines (opens in new tab)● (opens in new tab)The best tech tutorials and in-depth reviewsFrom$12.99 (opens in new tab)View (opens in new tab)