At today's "Unleashed" event, Apple revealed what's next for AirPods. The announcement started with a deeper look at Spatial Audio, which is a feature baked into Apple Music with supported hardware. And Apple is expanding that feature.
Along with the beta versions of iOS 15.1 and tvOS 15.1, Apple also seeded the next update for the HomePod lineup. With HomePod software version 15.1, Apple is welcoming back a couple of features that have been in the works for quite some time. Both of which should be welcomed additions to the smart speaker lineup.
A bit of a back-and-forth earlier this year had some folks interested in listening to Netflix content with Spatial Audio support excited for the future -- and then not so much. However, it turns out it was all a bit of misdirection on Netflix's part, because while the streaming company said it wasn't testing support for the feature, the feature is now live anyway.
Apple has teamed up with the popular American singer and songwriter Billie Eilish on a new short film promoting the company's new Apple Music spatial audio feature.
With the arrival of Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos in Apple Music earlier this year, the expectation was that the feature would work with a variety of different Apple-branded devices right out of the box. And that's certainly the case (especially with Lossless audio quality). But it turns out Apple has had to revise the list of supported devices that support the upgraded listening experience from the built-in speakers.
Apple is now testing upcoming AirPods Pro firmware that will bring software support for some of iOS 15's audio features like ambient noise reduction and spatial audio for FaceTime calls.
Spatial audio is an important feature in Apple's long list of features. It's one of the elements that the company hopes will get Apple Music to stand out from the competition. But Apple isn't the only company with this surround sound experience. Even Verizon is getting in on the fun.
Apple is now testing the latest Apple Music features for its Android client, including support for spatial audio and lossless audio, as well as automatic crossfading and other perks.
Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos is one of the newest features available for Apple Music subscribers. The best part is that it's free, a boost to the audio experience without boosting the monthly price. Now, Apple's promoting the new feature in a brand new ad.
I can still remember what it was like hauling around a portable CD player with me everywhere I went back in my high school days. That was before MP3s really took off. Forking over money for some worthwhile headphones was worth it back then, maybe even more so than it is today for most use cases. But that digital takeover was inevitable, and, eventually, I was hauling around all sorts of different MP3 players instead of that CD player.
Apple Music recently launched spatial audio and lossless support for subscribers, with dynamic head tracking designed to enhance spatial audio for music arriving later in 2021.
macOS Monterey and tvOS 15 bring spatial audio to your Apple TV and Mac with dynamic head tracking via the AirPods Pro or AirPods Max. But without any chips or sensors for spatial awareness inside those devices, how does exactly Apple measure your head movement?