Qualcomm shows S7 Pro audio chip that uses WiFi to increase the range of earphones

Qualcomm has announced its S7 and S7 Pro Gen 1 audio chips. The latter uses WiFi in addition to Bluetooth 5.4. This should make it possible to increase the range of earphones and headphones.

With the so-called Expanded Personal Area Network technology of the S7 Pro chip, headphones and earphones should be able to automatically switch between a Bluetooth and a WiFi connection, Qualcomm said. For example, if a user has connected their earphones to their phone via Bluetooth but walks too far away, this technology can switch to Wi-Fi so they don’t lose their connection to the phone.

The manufacturer promises that this xpan technology does not come at the expense of battery life. The feature should work on the 2.4, 5 and 6GHz frequency bands. In addition to the S7 Pro SoC, this also requires a smartphone with a Snapdragon SoC. Qualcomm claims that lossless, multichannel audio can be delivered at up to 192kHz via WiFi.

This functionality is not included in the regular S7 chip, but otherwise both SoCs are the same. According to Qualcomm, they both deliver seven times the computing power of the S5 Gen 2 series and contain a hundred times the on-device ‘AI power’ thanks to the addition of a proprietary micro-npu AI engine. Both chips should also contain better active noise cancellation. To The Verge the company says that the ANC is, among other things, ‘more intelligent’ and does not suppress ‘important outside sounds’. This should make it safer, for example, to use earphones while cycling. Finally, the new audio chips must have three times as much DSP performance and RAM. The first audio products with the S7 and S7 Pro sockets are expected early next year.