Apple Says Latest 13-Inch MacBook Air Now Supports Bluetooth 5.3

While the 13-inch MacBook Air with the M2 chip initially supported Bluetooth 5.0 when it was released in July 2022, the laptop now supports the faster and more reliable Bluetooth 5.3 standard, according to Apple's tech specs.

MacBook Air M2 Chip Purple Feature
Apple updated the 13-inch MacBook Air's tech specs page to say Bluetooth 5.3 after introducing the 15-inch MacBook Air with Bluetooth 5.3 at WWDC earlier this month. The latest standard offers faster and more reliable connectivity with Bluetooth accessories, and improved power efficiency, which can contribute to longer battery life. More details about Bluetooth 5.3 are available on the Bluetooth website.

All new Mac, iPhone, iPad Pro, and Apple Watch models released since September 2022 support Bluetooth 5.3, as do the second-generation AirPods Pro.

Both the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air remain limited to Wi-Fi 6, while other new Macs support Wi-Fi 6E for faster wireless connectivity over the 6GHz band.

Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Related Forum: MacBook Air

Popular Stories

iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Launch Is Just One Month Out – Here's Everything We Know

Saturday August 10, 2024 5:00 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series in the fall, and a possible September 10 announcement date has been floated this year, which means we are just one month away from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design...
macbook pro bb cyber

Apple's M3 MacBook Pro Gets Up to $1,000 Off In Major New Sales, Starting at $1,299 [Updated]

Sunday August 11, 2024 1:54 pm PDT by
Apple's M3 MacBook Pro is seeing multiple high value discounts on Best Buy and Amazon today, with up to $1,000 off select models. This includes a new all-time low price on the entry-level M3 512GB 14-inch MacBook Pro at $1,299.00, down from $1,599.00, and a massive $1,000 discount on the high-end 16-inch model exclusively for Best Buy members. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best...
iPhone 16 Pro Right Side Feature

The iPhone 16 is Getting a New Button: Here's What It Can Do

Tuesday August 13, 2024 4:01 pm PDT by
Multiple rumors have suggested that the iPhone 16 models are going to have an all-new button that's designed to make it easier to capture photos when the devices are held in landscape mode. Apple calls the button the Capture Button internally, and it is going to be one of the most advanced buttons that's been introduced to date with support for multiple gestures and the ability to respond to ...
iOS 18 on iPhone Feature

Everything New in iOS 18.1 Beta 2 and iOS 18 Beta 6

Monday August 12, 2024 2:32 pm PDT by
Apple is beta testing iOS 18 and the first update to iOS 18 concurrently, and we got the second betas of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 today alongside the sixth betas of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia 15. Many of the changes in iOS 18.1 are focused on bringing the .1 betas in line with the standard betas, which recently received updates to Photos and Safari, while...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Blue Face ID Single Camera Hole

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 17

Thursday August 8, 2024 4:40 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we sometimes get rumored feature leaks so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different – already we have some idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you plan to skip...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 2

Next Year's Slim iPhone 17 Could Be an 'iPhone Air'

Monday August 12, 2024 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's rumored iPhone 17 "Slim" could be positioned as an iPhone "Air" to boost sales, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explained how the "fourth" model in the iPhone lineup since 2020 (the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 14 Plus, and iPhone 15 Plus) has largely been a commercial failure. In the case of the Plus model,...

Top Rated Comments

cannono Avatar
15 months ago
Is this a hardware change to new shipments or a software change to all past sold of this model?
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
orbital~debris Avatar
15 months ago

Is this a hardware change to new shipments or a software change to all past sold of this model?
Almost exactly what I was about to type.

Very unclear of MacRumors to post this without that important clarity.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mikethebigo Avatar
15 months ago
Apparently the bluetooth module in the 13" MBA was always capable of 5.3, it just needed a firmware revision. So I don't think this is due to a hardware change.

Stolen info from another thread: The Broadcom 4387 (BCM_4387) which is the chip in all M2 MBAs does now support Bluetooth 5.3: https://device.report/broadcom/bcm4387
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EugW Avatar
15 months ago
Both the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air remain limited to Wi-Fi 6, while other new Macs support Wi-Fi 6E for faster wireless connectivity over the 6GHz band.
I'm still on WiFi 5 / 802.11ac, using a bunch of Apple AirPort Extremes connected via a wired Gigabit Ethernet backbone. I think I'll stick with this as long as realistically possible. Current Apple devices still work beautifully with these, even roaming from AirPort Extreme to AirPort Extreme. For most home use I have not seen the need to go beyond a few hundred Mbps over WiFi, and furthermore, my home internet access maxes out at 500 Mbps anyway. (However, my main work machine is a desktop which is hardwired via Ethernet.)
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macos9rules Avatar
15 months ago

Cool. Now it would be great if we had a pair of AirPods that are capable of lossless audio to take advantage of it.
In my opinion, Lossless audio is snake oil. I'm an audio engineer, multi-instrumentalist with perfect pitch, pro audio gear, and I really can't tell the difference between a lossless file and a high quality MP3 or AAC file. People around me who thought they could tell the difference always failed in blind tests. If you can tell the difference in a blind test, I'd be curious to know.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ric275 Avatar
15 months ago
So there was a quiet hardware revision? Or as part of a macOS update? Or typo? ?
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)