Last year, Samsung refreshed its line of TWS earbuds by launching the Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. Like the vast majority of similar products on the market, they use Bluetooth for audio transmission. However, a new patent from Samsung proposes replacing Bluetooth with UWB connectivity in wireless earbuds.
Bluetooth has long been the standard for wireless audio transmission. The initial limitations of the technology led to the development of improvements and new codecs specially designed to improve the music listening experience. Today, codecs such as aptX, LHDC, and LDAC enable wider bandwidth to transmit audio with higher quality. That said, Samsung seems to want to go one step further.
Samsung patent proposes replacing Bluetooth with UWB connectivity in earphones
The patent, spotted by 91mobiles, says that Bluetooth connectivity may still have some issues in transmitting the highest quality audio without any losses along the way. So, as an alternative solution, Samsung could use UWB technology. The South Korean giant’s earphone patent still incorporates the Bluetooth chip. However, it only uses Bluetooth to establish connectivity between the earphones and other devices. UWB would then be in charge of managing audio transmission.
If you’re not aware, UWB transfer speeds (1 Gbps) are ridiculously faster than Bluetooth’s (up to 50 Mbps in version 5.0). This could eliminate any kind of limitation in terms of data transfer. UWB is also quite energy efficient, so there would be no additional battery consumption. Plus, UWB can perfectly coexist with other standards such as Bluetooth in the same product without causing interference.
Samsung may not release earphones with this feature
As of today, it is unknown if Samsung will actually release earphones with audio transmission via UWB. Many patents filed by big companies never make it to a commercial product. Anyway, the implementation of this technology in earphones does not seem crazy or too complex. If successfully implemented, this idea has the potential to revolutionize the TWS industry.
Galaxy Buds typically use proprietary codecs for audio transmission. That means you’ll only be able to listen to music in the highest possible quality on devices like the Galaxy S25 series. It is possible that potential Samsung UWB-powered earphones present similar limitations to other brands’ devices.
