At Snapdragon Summit 2026, Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 platform. The new platform uses Snapdragon Sound technologies and on-device AI; it is security-focused and cloud-connected, and it offers micro-power Wi-Fi 6E — which seems like a lot of technology for earbuds.
Qualcomm says that Sound Elite Gen 2 offers up to 2x greater AI capability than its predecessor, and is able to run multiple intelligent experiences simultaneously. The chipset enables 40 per cent lower power consumption and up to 30 per cent smaller footprint.
Qualcomm says that OEMs can deliver faster, always-available personal AI experiences, which can include on-camera-equipped earbuds, like the rumoured AirPods Pro. The on-camera functionality would help gather context on the user’s environment, instead of capturing photos. While I think this is cool, I can totally see this being great for people who are visually impaired.
Sound-wise, because of audio devices, the Sound Elite Gen 2 is combined with Snapdragon Sound technologies and AI-driven features, so your audio device can adapt to the listener, their device and their environment.
Expect lossless audio with rich sound and immersive audio quality. With Qualcomm XPAN, you’ll have more connectivity beyond regular Bluetooth range. There’s also support for advanced multi-microphone architectures to help with noise cancellation, speech capture, voice clarity and more reliable interactions with AI.
Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 will be in earbuds, headphones, open-ear and hybrid audio designs, camera-enabled earbuds, audio glasses and other multimodal wearables.
5G & Infrastructure 
Accessories 
Accessories 
Accessories 