AbstractLet M be an n-dimensional closed hypersurface with constant mean curvature H satisfying |H| ≤ ϵ(n) in a unit sphere Sn+1, n ≤ 7, and S the square of the length of the second fundamental form of M. There exists a constant δ(n, H) > 0, which depends only on n and H, such that if S0 ≤ S ≤ S0 + δ(n, H), then S ≡ S0 and M is isometric to a Clifford hypersurface, where ϵ(n) is a sufficiently small constant depending on n and $S_0=n+\frac{n^3}{2(n-1)}H^2+\frac{n(n-2)}{2(n-1)}\sqrt{n^2H^4+4(n-1)H^2}$.