Apple may have quietly released a firmware update to enable software support for the latest Bluetooth 5.3 standard on its 13-inch M2 MacBook Air laptop from 2022.
Last year’s MacBook Air powered by Apple’s M2 chip now supports the Bluetooth 5.3 protocol that enhances reliability, power efficiency and user experience.
It’s unclear if Apple quietly updated the computer’s hardware to add support for Bluetooth 5.3 or if it was present but needed a new firmware to turn it on.
13-inch MacBook Air unlocks Bluetooth 5.3 powers
Apple has updated its most popular notebook recently, and no one even noticed. After launching the new 15-inch MacBook Air in June, which includes Bluetooth 5.3 support, the company has now refreshed the tech specs page for the smaller 13-incher to acknowledge that it, too, now supports the Bluetooth 5.3 specification.
This was first reported by MacRumors.
It would seem that the 13-inch MacBook Air has had Bluetooth 5.3 present since its release last year, but had kept its functionality disabled in software.
According to MacWorld, Apple has also updated the tech specs pages for the M2 MacBook Pro and M2 MacBook Air on its refurbished store to acknowledge that both laptops support the latest Bluetooth 5.3 standard.
The move indicates a firmware update.
Apple has been increasingly adopting Bluetooth 5.3
The MacBook Air is not the only Apple device with support for Bluetooth 5.3. Other Apple silicon computers have it, like the 14 and 16- inch MacBook Pro, the M2 Mac mini and the latest Mac Studio and Mac Pro desktops.
In addition, Bluetooth 5.3 is supported on the iPhone 14 family, the second-generation AirPods Pro and the latest Apple Watch models, the Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra.
Bluetooth 5.3 includes the latest LE Audio specification with support for the Low Complexity Communication Codec (LC3), according to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the organization behind the standard.
However, Apple currently seems to utilize the benefits of Bluetooth 5.3 to improve the audio quality and reliability of FaceTime calls.
Apple’s devices don’t make use of LE Audio because the AAC codec that the company uses doesn’t support low-energy Bluetooth, but that could change in the future. LE Audio offers perks like higher quality audio at the same bitrate and the ability to connect multiple sets of earbuds to the same source device.