Slightly refractory to Qualcomm technologies, especially when it comes to codecs, Bose could well change its tune. Indeed, the audio brand and the founder have just announced a partnership which concerns all future wireless audio products.
By standardizing its range and finally integrating the new Bluetooth standards, Bose is carefully preparing its future.
The Qualcomm S5 platform at the center of it all
We do not necessarily imagine it, but Bose already integrates Qualcomm chips in many headphones and earphones, despite the systematic absence of support for the AptX codec. The recent QC45 is based for example on a QCC5127, on the AptX Adaptive compatible paper.
With this new partnership between the two manufacturers, business goes much further, since future wireless models (headphones, earphones and speakers) will be based on the very recent Qualcomm S5 platform.
Without going into details today, S5 is a range of Bluetooth 5.3 chips, with LE Audio Dual Mode. In fact, it is more than likely that new Bose products will be compatible with this ambitious protocol, which opens the way to support for the next-gen LC3 codec as well as advanced functions such as Auracast. Dual Mode indicates that the chip remains compatible with classic Bluetooth Audio.
Emphasis is also placed on the energy optimization of the new chips. We can thus bet that if Bose supports the LC3 (standardized and mandatory), it will not integrate its LC3 Plus superset nor the AptX Lossless. Finally, the S5 platform relies on improved latency and improved call quality. Is Bose readying compatible devices for the coming weeks? We hope. It would then be the first (big) brand to take the plunge.
Source : Qualcomm press release
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