Nintendo Switch reportedly gets Bluetooth audio support in latest update

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
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Datamined information on the latest Nintendo Switch update indicates that Bluetooth audio support has been added to the hybrid console, suggesting that we could see Bluetooth headset compatibility in the future.

According to OatmealDome, a Nintendo and Mac-focused dataminer, Nintendo Switch firmware update 12.0.0 added audio support to a Bluetooth driver, which could allow Bluetooth audio devices to be connected to the console and suggests first step towards Nintendo enabling Bluetooth headset support.

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Right now, the Nintendo Switch doesn't support Bluetooth wireless headsets, meaning that all the best Nintendo Switch headsets have to use a wired connection to fit with the 3.5mm headset jack or else opt for some kind of unofficial adapter. It's possible that's going to be changing in the future. 

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As per Nintendo Life, the official patch notes for update 12.0.0 indicate that the update was meant to fix an issue with the save backup feature, solving communication errors that could occur during the process. However, the patch notes make no mention of the added audio support.

"We fixed the issue with the save data backup feature, where in rare cases, the automatic backup of save data is interrupted if a communication error occurs during completion of the save data backup process," the patch notes read.

It could be that this update is just a simple backend fix for something unimportant, or laying the groundwork for Bluetooth support to come.

Samuel Tolbert

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance games journalist. His bylines can be found at Android Central, Windows Central, iMore and TechRadar.