[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"branding":3,"analytics":7,"article-qualcomm-puts-wi-fi-directly-into-its-new-earbud-sound-chip":10,"sections":41},{"siteName":4,"siteTagline":5,"publisherName":4,"contactEmail":6},"The Revision","Tech news, decoded.","editor@therevision.news",{"gaMeasurementId":8,"adsenseClientId":9},"G-ZW2MV82GYR","ca-pub-8533917693782264",{"article":11},{"id":12,"slug":13,"title":14,"dek":15,"body_md":16,"tags_json":17,"published_at":18,"created_at":19,"updated_at":20,"status":21,"review_note":22,"review_notes":23,"image_url":22,"persona_id":22,"persona_name":22,"section":30,"tags":31,"sources":36,"feedback":40,"feedback_at":22,"cost_usd":40,"total_tokens":40},7691,"qualcomm-puts-wi-fi-directly-into-its-new-earbud-sound-chip","Qualcomm Puts Wi-Fi Directly Into Its New Earbud Sound Chip","Qualcomm's Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 builds Wi-Fi 6E straight into earbuds, reviving a promise it made in 2023 and didn't quite keep.","Qualcomm's newest earbud chip can connect straight to Wi-Fi, skipping your phone entirely.\n\nThe company's new Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 is the first of its chips to build micro-power Wi-Fi 6E directly into the silicon. That lets earbuds or audio glasses join your home Wi-Fi network on their own, then stream lossless audio from the cloud without routing through a paired phone. Leave your phone on the charger or lost in the couch cushions, and the audio keeps playing. It's Qualcomm's attempt to get past the range and dropout limits that Bluetooth has always had.\n\nThis is Qualcomm's second run at this pitch. In 2023, its S7 Pro platform and Expanded Personal Area Network tech made the same argument, that Wi-Fi could do what Bluetooth can't, and it didn't turn into a wave of Wi-Fi-connected earbuds on shelves. Putting the radio directly on the audio chip this time, rather than treating it as an add-on feature, suggests Qualcomm thinks the bottleneck was cost and power draw, not the underlying idea.\n\nWhether that's enough to get device makers to actually build around it, or whether Elite Gen 2 becomes another spec sheet footnote like XPAN, is the real test.","[\"qualcomm\",\"wi-fi\",\"earbuds\",\"wireless-audio\"]","2026-09-24T23:42:39.000Z","2026-09-25T00:02:58.735Z","2026-09-25T00:03:05.301Z","published",null,[24],{"id":25,"reviewer":26,"round":27,"reason":28,"status":29},"editor-r1","editor",1,"Cut the reporting-gap admission 'it's unclear how many products actually shipped with it' — either find\u002Fcite adoption figures or drop the sentence and state the adoption-bottleneck point as supported analysis rather than an acknowledged gap in your reporting.","resolved","hardware",[32,33,34,35],"qualcomm","wi-fi","earbuds","wireless-audio",[37],{"name":38,"url":39},"The Verge","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.theverge.com\u002Ftech\u002F1000443\u002Fqualcomms-new-elite-sound-chip-might-finally-deliver-the-wi-fi-earbud-dream",0,{"sections":42},[43,48,53,58,63,67,72,77,82,87,92,97,102,107],{"name":44,"slug":45,"count":46,"latest_published_at":47},"AI","ai",4440,"2026-09-24T23:24:33.000Z",{"name":49,"slug":50,"count":51,"latest_published_at":52},"Security","security",729,"2026-09-24T19:54:21.000Z",{"name":54,"slug":55,"count":56,"latest_published_at":57},"Policy","policy",386,"2026-09-24T23:50:55.000Z",{"name":59,"slug":60,"count":61,"latest_published_at":62},"Deals","deals",237,"2026-09-24T22:00:00.000Z",{"name":64,"slug":30,"count":65,"latest_published_at":66},"Hardware",182,"2026-09-25T01:25:53.000Z",{"name":68,"slug":69,"count":70,"latest_published_at":71},"Science","science",138,"2026-09-24T18:24:52.000Z",{"name":73,"slug":74,"count":75,"latest_published_at":76},"Consumer Tech","consumer-tech",128,"2026-09-24T19:24:34.000Z",{"name":78,"slug":79,"count":80,"latest_published_at":81},"Software","software",88,"2026-09-24T23:06:55.000Z",{"name":83,"slug":84,"count":85,"latest_published_at":86},"Dev Tools","dev-tools",79,"2026-09-22T22:21:13.000Z",{"name":88,"slug":89,"count":90,"latest_published_at":91},"Startups","startups",71,"2026-09-24T20:45:00.000Z",{"name":93,"slug":94,"count":95,"latest_published_at":96},"Gaming","gaming",46,"2026-09-24T17:52:29.000Z",{"name":98,"slug":99,"count":100,"latest_published_at":101},"General","general",45,"2026-09-24T22:08:22.000Z",{"name":103,"slug":104,"count":105,"latest_published_at":106},"Reviews","reviews",30,"2026-09-24T20:07:31.000Z",{"name":108,"slug":109,"count":110,"latest_published_at":111},"How-To","how-to",6,"2026-06-16T09:00:00.000Z"]