Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Samsung has filed a patent for earphones that transmit audio via UWB instead of Bluetooth.
- The company says UWB enables higher-quality audio, lower latency, and reduced interference.
- This patent isn’t a guarantee that we’ll see UWB earphones in the future.
The vast majority of wireless earphones use Bluetooth for audio transmission, but we’ve also seen some products with 2.4GHz wireless connections over the years. Now, Samsung is investigating Ultra Wide-Band (UWB) for wireless earphones.
91mobiles spotted a Samsung patent for wirelessly transmitting audio between a device and wireless earphones via UWB. The patent, which was published yesterday (January 30) via the US Patent and Trade Office, reveals that Bluetooth is still used to initially establish a connection between the host device and the first earphone. However, the first earphone then switches to a UWB connection, followed by the second earphone. Audio transmission then takes place via UWB too. Check out the diagram below.
So why would you want earphones that work via UWB instead of Bluetooth? Samsung’s patent notes that UWB audio transmission could offer reduced interference and latency compared to Bluetooth. The Korean brand also claims that using UWB will enable high-speed data transmission (mentioning 20Mbps speeds) and reduce power consumption. In fact, Samsung says these higher speeds enable the delivery of lossless audio.
These would all be impressive benefits over standard Bluetooth, but it almost goes without saying that the host device (be it a smartphone, tablet, PC, or smartwatch) requires UWB hardware as well. This wireless standard has largely been restricted to smartphones, tracker tags, AirPods, and some smartwatches. However, these products have typically used UWB for device tracking, access control (e.g., car keys), and smart home control. So, wireless audio transmission would be a new frontier. Adoption might be a challenge, however, as UWB is typically found in premium phones, but even the $800 Pixel 9 and Galaxy S25 lack the feature.
Would you buy Galaxy Buds with UWB audio support?
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We do need to caution that this is just a patent, though. Companies file them all the time, but many of these outlined technologies don’t become a commercial reality. So there’s no guarantee that Samsung will offer Galaxy Buds or any other audio products with UWB transmission in the future.
Samsung isn’t the only company working on Bluetooth alternatives. Qualcomm announced its XPAN technology over a year ago which allows for audio transmission via Wi-Fi for improved range, quality, and latency. The good news is the company told us the first XPAN-enabled earphones are coming “very, very soon.”
