Your next phone could have a 10km Bluetooth connection

Bluetooth connections tend to have a somewhat limited range, often topping out around 33 feet. MediaTek has just announced the Dimensity 9400 Plus, a brand-new chipset that promises to blow that number out of the park and support distances up to 10 kilometers (about 6.2 miles). The original Dimensity 9400 could deliver distances of 1.5 kilometers, so this is a huge jump — but it’s not quite as clear-cut as it sounds.

The estimated distance is for phone-to-phone direct Bluetooth connections, which means your wireless earbuds won’t suddenly gain a huge bump in quality over distance. The key phrasing is found on MediaTek’s website: “The Dimensity 9400+ extends phone-to-phone Bluetooth connections up to 10km when in line-of-sight, increasing over 6.6X further than the Dimensity 9400. These ultra-long reach direct connections don’t require cellular mobile services, saving data, and improving privacy.”

If line-of-sight is a requirement, then your actual Bluetooth connective distance might see a slight increase, but nowhere near 10 kilometers. That would require something like an airport runway. The actual real-world use cases are somewhat limited, but any increase in connective distance is always a perk. Plus, it could open the door to some interesting AirDrop pranks.

On top of better Bluetooth, the Dimesnity 9400 Plus also comes with upgrades to its CPU, AI performance, and more. It has a 12-core GPU for nearly PC-level gaming visuals, improved HDR video, and much more. It also supports speeds up to 3.73GHz, larger Wi-Fi ranges, and Wi-Fi 7.

Now bear in mind, this is just an SoC. Companies will need to choose to use it for users to see any of the benefits, but the fact that the technology exists — and is such a huge leap forward — is promising. The Dimensity 9400 Plus looks like a serious competitor to the more popular Snapdragon 8 Elite, and it could be a major boon to the next generation of smartphones.