Key Insights:
- Bluetooth is becoming a core enabler of edge AI rather than just a short-range wireless standard. That shift is opening new growth paths in wearables, ambient IoT, retail, healthcare, and industrial tracking, resulting in 8.1 billion Bluetooth® enabled device shipments by 2030
- The market is moving toward AI-native connectivity, connected MCUs, and ultra-low power designs. These advances, alongside the continued evolution of Bluetooth® technology, are making Bluetooth® connectivity more attractive for smaller, cheaper, and more intelligent devices at scale
- Some of the biggest opportunities for tech vendors now sit in fast-growing device categories such as smart glasses, smart labels, electronic shelf labels, and home healthcare monitors
The Bluetooth® market continues to transform rapidly in 2026, driven by advances in edge artificial intelligence (AI) and changing device requirements. Bluetooth® connectivity is enabling new product portfolios, partnerships, and platforms that accelerate AI integration across consumer and Internet of Things (IoT) markets.
Device and semiconductor vendors are increasingly embedding neural processing unit (NPU) support into their AI-native connectivity solutions. At the same time, the shift towards connected/wireless microcontroller units (MCUs) is also accelerating, which is essential to optimizing power efficiency, reducing bill of materials (BOM) cost and size, and simplifying product development.
These technological shifts are being combined with a sustained push toward ultra-low-power, energy-harvesting solutions and low-cost Bluetooth® connectivity. As a result, the market can now support new device categories that leverage edge intelligence.
Where is Bluetooth® connectivity creating new opportunities for technology vendors?
These trends and Bluetooth® innovations are unlocking lucrative opportunities across multiple verticals. ABI Research identifies the following as key growth vectors for consumer device makers and chipset suppliers in the coming years:
- New personal AI devices and wearable form factors
- Extended reality (XR) smart glasses
- Smart home automation and appliances
- Consumer robotics
On the IoT front, smart labels and ambient IoT solutions are also driving demand for Bluetooth® technology. From a volume perspective, these devices could dwarf the entire existing wireless connectivity market in the years to come.
For tech vendors, edge AI should be leveraged to support:
- Predictive maintenance in industrial IoT and smart building energy management
- Smart healthcare integration
- Secure access in automotive and smart buildings
- Supply chain visibility and inventory tracking
Many of these use cases will be strengthened by continued Bluetooth® LE innovation, including Bluetooth® Channel Sounding, Bluetooth® High Data Throughput, and ultra-low-latency human interface device (HID) solutions, among other enhancements. Consequently, the Bluetooth® ®market is expected to reach over 8.1 billion units shipped annually by 2030, up from 5.4 billion units in 2025.
The remainder of this article highlights several of the biggest opportunities for integrating Bluetooth® technology in the coming years, based on ABI Research’s latest forecasts.
Smart glasses
ABI Research is observing a clear shift toward no-display and AI display glasses, alongside traditional XR glasses that focus on entertainment and second-screen functionality. This has driven higher shipments of Bluetooth® enabled smart glasses in the last couple of years, with new devices, form factors, and production ramp-up expected over the next few years. According to our forecasts, the emergence of AI glasses will propel annual shipments of Bluetooth® smart glasses to 68 million units in 2030.
AI agents are becoming a standard feature in smart glasses solutions.To XR technology providers, AI is seen as a key driver of adoption, improving contextual awareness, accessibility, interactivity, and productivity. These are tangible benefits that customers can easily understand, driving stronger uptake across use cases.
Aligning with this trend, many companies now prioritize integrating AI capabilities in their latest product launches. Meta, Google, RayNeo, XREAL, and other XR market leaders are already embedding AI into their Bluetooth® supported offerings.
Smart labels
The minimal energy requirements of Bluetooth® technology make it an excellent match for smart labels. Smart labels are ultra-low-power connected labels used for logistics, retail inventory tracking, and supply chain monitoring. The emergence of ambient IoT solutions is driving rapid increases in this product category.
New ambient IoT product sectors, notably smart labels, are enabling a whole new class of Bluetooth® products to hit the market. ABI Research expects Bluetooth® smart labels shipments to accelerate rapidly over the next five years, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30 percent.
In 2025, we saw notable progress for smart label technologies, and these are poised for significant growth in 2026, with battery suppliers and label vendors increasing production capacity. Concurrently, many existing and new customers are scaling their smart label deployments.
The popularity of Bluetooth® technology is clear, particularly with new silicon and experimentation around decentralized network infrastructure. ABI Research believes Bluetooth® connectivity could become a de facto standard for supply chain visibility going forward.
Bluetooth® Electronic Shelf Labels
According to ABI Research, annual shipments of Bluetooth® Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) are expected to reach nearly 176 million units by 2030, achieving a 40 percent CAGR. This positions Bluetooth ESLs as one of the fastest-scaling opportunities for technology vendors to leverage Bluetooth® connectivity.
The introduction of the Bluetooth ESL standard in 2023 has driven strong market growth, resulting in large-scale Bluetooth® ESL deployments across retail, warehousing, and other industries.
Several vendors are also now ramping up support for Bluetooth® technology in their ESL product portfolios. And those already using Bluetooth® connectivity are rapidly expanding their deployments as they recognize the substantial revenue streams being created.
Smart healthcare
Another segment expanding quickly for technology vendors comes from Bluetooth® enabled healthcare shipments, particularly for home monitoring applications. ABI Research forecasts shipments to increase 27 percent annually between 2025 and 2030.
Key device categories in this segment include connected continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), digital scales, PERS devices, and blood pressure monitors. Annual Bluetooth® enabled CGM shipments alone are expected to reach 115 million units by 2030 — nearly double from 62.1 million units in 2025.
Demographic shifts, particularly aging populations in densely populated countries, are a key driver of this growth. APAC countries like Japan and various European countries, such as Italy, Germany, and Portugal, are notable populations in need of home healthcare solutions.
More broadly, growing rates of chronic disease are driving demand for continuous vital monitoring. Bluetooth® technology provides a low-power, cost-effective means of generating life-saving and life-improving health data.
Finally, rising healthcare costs are another key catalyst for smart home healthcare device adoption. With Bluetooth® compatibility, pre-emptive disease management is more affordable and attractive to customers.
Conclusion
Bluetooth® technology is increasingly enabling edge intelligence across both consumer and enterprise markets. ABI Research’s projection of more than eight billion Bluetooth® supported device annual shipments by 2030 highlights the scale of this shift.
Leading vendors in 2026 understand this shift and are increasingly supporting AI-native chipsets, connected MCUs, and ultra-low power architectures. These are enabling new immersive experiences, enhanced supply chain visibility, proactive healthcare monitoring, and more.
Over the next decade, Bluetooth® technology growth will not be defined by connectivity alone; it will be defined by how effectively vendors consolidate the latest Bluetooth® features, edge AI, and scalability into a single offering.
Additional Bluetooth® device shipment forecasts can be viewed on the Bluetooth® market dashboard. You can filter by device type and radio standard to deliver the granularity needed to optimize product portfolios. Learn More.
