Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Now Says Apple Watch Series 8 and SE 2 Support Bluetooth 5.3
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
So my new Apple watch series 8, I got it 2 days ago, last night I charged to full then switched it off immediately, this morning I switched it on and it lasted exactly 5 hours then died? Is this normal? So I re-recharged it to full again but this time I disabled Siri and now been using it for 10 hours strait since last charge, are you telling me that I can not have Siri on cause it kills the watch battery?
Would have been nice to ***** know this when they did their announcement!!! I would have a new Watch, Phone and AirPods!!
Now I wait till next year...
Honestly, you may say that's nuts, but I don't F with my Bluetooth "stack"
Well here's to 5.3 being default in iPhone 15 and Watch 9, cause I doubt they are coming out with new AirPods Pro 3, ugh Apple.
Because, currently I am like 15 devices thick with BT 5.0, and maybe 3 at 4.2.
Sucks!! I was ready to goto 5.3, maybe by next year they'll have Better Beats with 5.3 and H2, yeah that could work...
Now I wait till next year...
Honestly, you may say that's nuts, but I don't F with my Bluetooth "stack"
Well here's to 5.3 being default in iPhone 15 and Watch 9, cause I doubt they are coming out with new AirPods Pro 3, ugh Apple.
Because, currently I am like 15 devices thick with BT 5.0, and maybe 3 at 4.2.
Sucks!! I was ready to goto 5.3, maybe by next year they'll have Better Beats with 5.3 and H2, yeah that could work...
I don't get this stupid comment, if europeans are paying premium (and more than the US), they at least deserve the the same features.
I also don't get this apple fanatics defending a company like it's their parents 😂 We should not only enjoy what Apple has to give us, but also be able to criticise when thing's are not right.
honestly this feels intentional to drive more sales towards the Ultra. The bluetooth version and future proofing was defo part of my purchase decision so to hear this now is really frustrating 
Bluetooth is notoriously terrible on certain parameters but, to some extent, the only feasible option when it comes to connecting smaller, wireless devices due to how, comparatively, little battery it consumes.
And since the product in question is Apple Watch, the need for wireless chips that put less strain on the battery are obviously multiplied.
So any improvement to connectivity, pairing, audio quality, etc., are very important and welcome.
If it's really true that only U.S. AW 8 and SE 2nd Gen offer Bluetooth 5.3 then that sucks and doesn't make sense.
To cut down costs and increase margins, Apple usually creates one component and then puts the exact same component in many different devices. This helps keep costs down and makes manufacturing more efficient all around. We've seen this with the M1 SoC and various iterations of its iPhone A"X" SoCs.
I have no idea of the actual logistics and costs of creating these products. But wouldn't doing both a BT 5.0 and BT 5.3 AW 8 be very inefficient and lead to lower margins than simply doing BT 5.3 across all SiP 8 Apple Watches?
You can counter that, buy only buying the SE (2022) GPS, which seems to be only 1 version globally...honestly this feels intentional to drive more sales towards the Ultra. The bluetooth version and future proofing was defo part of my purchase decision so to hear this now is really frustrating
Sadly Bluetooth 5.3 isn’t the only feature missing in Europe. International Roaming isn’t available either. So I’ll be sticking with my stainless steel series 4 a while longer.
I think it’s more likely every watch has 5.3 and its error on the website.
The only way it seems possible is if the cellular and Bluetooth modules are integrated and they decided to skim us. I think it’s better to profitable for apple to create uniform components rather than so much defragmentation.
I'm surprised they ever listed it at Bluetooth 5.0, to not have at least 5.2 would have been odd. 5.3 is a very minor upgrade, but it's certainly a nice bonus.
International roaming is available for cellular models of Apple Watch Series 5 and later, as long as they’re running watchOS 9.
Last edited:
Don't know where you got that information but it's definitely wrong. The slide presented at the keynote not only showed one of my countries' (Austria) main carriers but also a few other European carriers like swisscom & vodafone.
PS: Besides that Apple is promoting international roaming on their German Apple Watch websites and says "coming soon". Sounds kinda like Europe is not getting ****ed over but will receive this feature like everybody else.
Last edited:
Bluetooth LE came out with Bluetooth 4 in 2009. So it should work for you now. Unless you meant something else.
Bluetooth Low Energy - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Yes, but the Watch doesn't use Low Energy.
Last edited:
Japan and Hong Kong also show BT 5.3 for all three Series 8 Watches on the comparison pages.
Too early to make sense of. But at the very least, it doesn't appear to be an U.S. exclusive thing.
It's probably just a mistake and getting updated within the next week, hopefully.
Too early to make sense of. But at the very least, it doesn't appear to be an U.S. exclusive thing.
It's probably just a mistake and getting updated within the next week, hopefully.
IMO, this is an error on Apple not updating their websites and they are now taking care of it.
If it is a regulatory approval issue, however, then the Ultra would likely have been submitted earlier for regulatory approval due to all the additional features and new design, so it stands to reason if regulatory approval is the blocker, the Ultra would have received approval first and before launch. And now the S8 and SE2 are getting their regulatory approvals (having been submitted closer to launch) and as they get it, Apple is updating their websites to reflect this.
A BT 5.3 radio is in the Series 8 Watch for every region (including the EU), so if it is not enabled, it would be a regulatory situation and not Apple specifically omitting it.
If that was true, then only the Ultra would have BT 5.3.
Yes it would, which is why it was not done. The only logical explanation for a geographic region not supporting Bluetooth 5.3 would be regulatory and considering the Ultra was approved with BT 5.3, there is no reason for those regulatory agencies to deny it to the S8 and SE2 so it would assuredly be a paperwork issue.
If it is a regulatory approval issue, however, then the Ultra would likely have been submitted earlier for regulatory approval due to all the additional features and new design, so it stands to reason if regulatory approval is the blocker, the Ultra would have received approval first and before launch. And now the S8 and SE2 are getting their regulatory approvals (having been submitted closer to launch) and as they get it, Apple is updating their websites to reflect this.
A BT 5.3 radio is in the Series 8 Watch for every region (including the EU), so if it is not enabled, it would be a regulatory situation and not Apple specifically omitting it.
honestly this feels intentional to drive more sales towards the Ultra. The bluetooth version and future proofing was defo part of my purchase decision so to hear this now is really frustrating
If that was true, then only the Ultra would have BT 5.3.
Yes it would, which is why it was not done. The only logical explanation for a geographic region not supporting Bluetooth 5.3 would be regulatory and considering the Ultra was approved with BT 5.3, there is no reason for those regulatory agencies to deny it to the S8 and SE2 so it would assuredly be a paperwork issue.
Are they using any 5.3 features? It's great that the hardware supports it but if the software does not there is not much point.
The refreshed Air Pods Pro (which are also on BT 5.3) support audio features introduced in BT 5.2 so if you pair your APP2 and watch, both need BT 5.3 to enable those features.
