The most requested audio features by users according to Qualcomm research are lossless audio and spatial audio. These features are not yet fully supported on Android devices due to technological barriers. Through the Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 and Qualcomm S3 Gen 2 chips, it will finally become a reality starting next year.
Both of these chips were announced at the Snapdragon Summit event that took place today. It will bring spatial audio support complete with head position tracking and lossless audio via bluetooth 5.3 connection. Based on a poll conducted by Qualcomm, 41% of respondents said they would be willing to spend more for audio accessories with spatial audio support.
Support from a service and hardware level is still limited on the platform at this time but with the launch of Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 and S3 Gen 2 the gap between Android and iOS can now be bridged.
In addition, the chip also supports Qualcomm Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation, audio with latency as low as 48 ms for gaming sessions. Translucent mode is also supported. The bad news is that the Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 and Qualcomm S3 Gen 2 chips will only appear in earphones, headphones and speakers in the second half of 2023.