Today, at an exclusive event in New York City, Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd. highlighted momentum in the global Snapdragon Sound technology rollout, with 30 OEMs having signed technology agreements, and the first commercial products headed for consumers from Xiaomi, Edifier and Master & Dynamic as well as the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders designed by ASUS. The company also announced its intention to support CD Lossless audio transmission over Bluetooth wireless connectivity as a feature of Snapdragon Sound to meet increasing consumer demand for lossless audio quality. In conjunction with the event, executives from Qualcomm, Master & Dynamic and Motorola discussed current and future audio trends and the company revealed new findings from its annual State of Sound report.
“Snapdragon Sound is designed to dynamically adapt to both the use case and external environment and provides our customers with a new way to deliver robust, high quality audio including bit-for-bit exact CD Lossless quality. Whatever you are doing across your devices, Snapdragon Sound is designed to deliver the ultimate audio experience, truly how sound should sound.”
James Chapman, vice president and general manager, Voice, Music and Wearables, Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd
CD Lossless audio for earbuds
Qualcomm aptX Lossless technology will be a new addition to the proven aptX Adaptive technology and Snapdragon Sound. It is designed to scale to deliver CD quality 16-bit 44.1kHz lossless audio over Bluetooth wireless connectivity for truly wireless earbuds and headphones and provide new solutions to meet growing demand for lossless audio streaming. With Snapdragon Sound, OEMs will be able to support a range of audio formats including CD lossless, HD 24-bit 48kHz and high resolution 24-bit 96kHz, all with robust connectivity for a reliable listening experience.
Several customers and industry players joined the event to talk about current or future products incorporating Snapdragon Sound.
“Qualcomm Technologies and Amazon Music believe customers should experience music the way artists recorded it – in the highest quality”, said Karolina Joynathsing, Director of Business Development for Amazon Music. “Sound quality matters to everyone, and now with Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon Sound technology paired with Amazon Music HD, more fans than ever can experience the best possible version of their favorite music.”
“We always strive to deliver best-in-class technical performance from each of our products, but now that we’ve worked with Qualcomm Technologies on Snapdragon Sound, we’ve come to see the benefit of optimizing both the source mobile device and the earphones, and we’re excited for the premium Android experience we are able to provide as a result”, said Jonathan Levine, CEO and Founder of Master & Dynamic.
“We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Qualcomm Technologies to bring Snapdragon Sound to our customers via the new motorola edge,” said Doug Michau, Executive Director of North America Business Development at Motorola. “Pairing Snapdragon Sound with the super-fast 144Hz refresh rate and 6.8″ FHD+ display on the new motorola edge allows us to offer customers an immersive audio, viewing and gaming experience in one package.”
The Dynamic State of Sound
Qualcomm Technologies also released its annual consumer research report, The State of Sound, a global survey of 6,000 consumers. This year, Covid-19 and related work from home activities drove changes in purchasing and product use as demand for wireless earbuds grew rapidly. The research highlighted increasing consumer awareness and interest in features including higher resolution and lossless music quality, low latency for gaming, better voice call quality, active noise cancellation and glitch-free sound.
The report also identified changes in listening behavior related to Covid-19, including 65% of respondents who turned to listening to music for comfort, 57% who did more video calls for work and 57% who stated their audio listening habits would continue to be changed post pandemic.
In gaming, where audio latency is a matter of virtual winning or losing, 68% of consumers surveyed play games on their smartphone at least twice per week and 46% do so every single day. Not surprisingly users spent long daily periods on their phones mobile gaming, with an average of 1.9 hours. Overall, the report showed that wireless audio is becoming much more important to the mobile experience with 70% of those surveyed saying that good sound in their wireless audio devices creates the best experience when using a smartphone.
“The survey highlights the tremendous opportunity for our customers today, with increased consumer demand for lower-latency, higher quality audio and changes in the way in which we work, live and relax driving new and exciting use cases. Our Snapdragon Sound technology and broad portfolio of technologies across mobile, audio, wearables and beyond will help our customers create a new age of audio,” concluded Chapman.
Qualcomm is the world’s leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G. When we connected the phone to the internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our foundational technologies enable the mobile ecosystem and are found in every 3G, 4G and 5G smartphone. We bring the benefits of mobile to new industries, including automotive, the internet of things, and computing, and are leading the way to a world where everything and everyone can communicate and interact seamlessly.
