In 2021, shipments reached 4.7 billion units, with 9% growth forecast. By 2017, there were 3.6 billion Bluetooth devices being shipped annually and the shipments were expected to continue increasing at about 12% a year. As of 2009, Bluetooth integrated circuit chips ship approximately 920 million units annually. A network of patents apply to the technology, which are licensed to individual qualifying devices. A manufacturer must meet Bluetooth SIG standards to market it as a Bluetooth device. The Bluetooth SIG oversees development of the specification, manages the qualification program, and protects the trademarks. The IEEE standardized Bluetooth as IEEE 802.15.1, but no longer maintains the standard. It is mainly used as an alternative to wire connections, to exchange files between nearby portable devices and connect cell phones and music players with wireless headphones.īluetooth is managed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), which has more than 35,000 member companies in the areas of telecommunication, computing, networking, and consumer electronics. It employs UHF radio waves in the ISM bands, from 2.402 GHz to 2.48 GHz. In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limited to 2.5 milliwatts, giving it a very short range of up to 10 metres (33 ft).

Typically less than 10 m (33 ft), up to 100 m (330 ft).īluetooth 5.0: 40–400 m (100–1,000 ft) īluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs).

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