Development of NearLink in China

The emerging communication technology NearLink is positioning itself as an alternative to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in the Chinese market and is competitive regarding network latency and the number of terminal connections.

NearLink technology began commercialization in the latter half of 2023, with Huawei rallying relevant stakeholders to form an industry alliance. The alliance covers chip design to commercialized terminal products, leveraging the vast domestic demand in China as the shipment outlet.

However, the establishment of such an ecosystem poses a significant challenge. NearLink is expected to coexist with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in its early development stages rather than aiming to replace them outright.

• Introduction

• Development history

• Table 1: Development history of NearLink

• SparkLink Alliance

• Chart 1: Share of members of SparkLink Alliance by top-3 industries

• Technology breakdown

• Transmission

• Table 2: SLB and SLE structure comparison with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

• Table 3: SLB and SLE specification comparison with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

• Ecosystem

• Table 4: Companies in the ecosystem of SLB and SLE

• Applications

• Table 5: Huawei FreeBuds Pro 3 and specifications of Hisilicon Kirin A2 chip

• Chart 2: Comparison of Huawei FreeBuds Pro 3 (NearLink) and Pro 2+ (Bluetooth) in transmission stability, (Kbps)

• Table 6: NearLink-supported products from Huawei and others

• Table 7: Applications for NearLink, now and future

• Summary

• Table 8: Summary of NearLink technologies and applications