At the moment the only phones that support the new Bluetooth 5.0 standard are the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+. There were rumors that the HTC U11 could also feature the standard, but that clearly wasn’t the case. Instead the phone was launched with Bluetooth 4.2, which while perfectly fine, was a bit disappointing for many.
However it seems that could change soon because according to a recent sighting at the FCC, apparently HTC plans to enable Bluetooth 5.0 in the HTC U11 through a firmware update and without the need for any hardware change. This seems to suggest that the HTC U11 did come with the necessary Bluetooth 5.0 hardware, but for some reason was not enabled at the launch of the handset.
We’re not sure why that is, perhaps there were some issues that HTC had to work out themselves, but hopefully this firmware update will change things. The upgrade to Bluetooth 5.0 will basically see the increase in speed as well as offer up to four times the range compared to Bluetooth 4.2, making it ideal if you pair it with wireless speakers or other accessories.
We’re not sure when the update is expected to be released, but if the sighting at the FCC is any indication, perhaps HTC U11 owners won’t have to wait too long for it.
