A new version of the Bluetooth wireless device-to-device technology that offers significantly lower power consumption than previous versions. Also referred to as Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth 4.0 achieves its reduced power consumption by enabling devices to remain paired, or connected to each other, without requiring a continual stream of data to be transferred between the devices.
Bluetooth 4.0 was announced in late 2011 and first appeared in Apple’s 2012 releases of the MacBook Air and MacBook Mini. The first smartphone to utilize the new Bluetooth 4 technology was Apple s iPhone 4S. Bluetooth 4.0 is also expected to play a key role in the development of advanced, long-lasting wearable computing devices like smartwatches and fitness monitoring devices.
