Qualcomm’s Latest ‘Elite’ Sound Chip Aims to Realize the Wi-Fi Earbud Vision

Imagine if your wireless earbuds or audio glasses could stream high-quality lossless audio without interruptions, even when your phone is charging on the nightstand or lost in the couch cushions. Qualcomm’s latest innovation, the Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2, is the first to incorporate “micro-power Wi-Fi 6E” directly into the chip, allowing for a seamless connection to your home Wi-Fi network and, subsequently, to the cloud.

This concept may sound familiar, as Qualcomm previously hinted at similar capabilities in 2023 with the “S7 Pro sound platform” and its Expanded Personal Area Network (XPAN) technology, claiming that Wi-Fi earbuds could achieve what Bluetooth alone could not—specifically, delivering 24-bit 96kHz lossless audio that exceeds Bluetooth’s limited bandwidth. However, the earlier 7-series platform required a separate Wi-Fi chip, which proved to be a barrier for manufacturers of compact devices. In fact, the only product we saw was Xiaomi’s 2025 Buds 5 Pro, which never made it to a global market.

With the new integration of Wi-Fi into the main chip, there’s potential for this technology to gain traction. Qualcomm boasts that the Elite is now 30 percent smaller, uses up to 40 percent less power, and features double the AI processing capabilities of its predecessor, making it an attractive option for device manufacturers.

Currently, Qualcomm is collaborating with HP on a specific unnamed product, is closely partnering with Bose, and is exploring a new category of intelligent hearables—think earbuds equipped with built-in cameras—alongside Cleer.