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Qualcomm is giving earbuds a bigger role with its new Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 platform. The technology is built for earbuds, headphones, audio glasses, camera buds, and other smart audio devices. It brings an AI engine that can deliver up to 128 GOPS. Qualcomm says this is twice the AI power of its Snapdragon S7 Gen 1 platform. The new system also supports Wi-Fi 6E, allowing compatible earbuds to connect directly to the cloud instead of relying on a phone for every AI task.
The platform combines AI processing, audio features, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 6E, and noise cancellation in a smaller package. Additionally, it contains an Arm Cortex-M55 applications processor, an Arm Cortex-M55 main DSP, two Hi-Fi 5 audio DSPs, a dedicated Hi-Fi 3 low-latency DSP, and Qualcomm's eNPU.
Qualcomm claims it can use up to 40% less power and take around 30% less chip space than the previous platform in certain tests. The company did not say when the first consumer products using the new system will arrive.
While talking about the shift, Ziad Asghar, Qualcomm's senior vice-president and general manager for XR, Wearables and Personal AI, mentioned, “As AI becomes a core capability, users will increasingly expect more natural ways to interact with it. Those interactions won't always happen through a screen. They will happen through natural conversations, where users can simply speak to an AI assistant and receive help in real time.”
Also Read: Qualcomm’s Agentic Smartphone Vision Raises Questions About User Data
The bigger idea is simple. Earbuds could soon do more than play music or answer calls. With their own AI power, they could handle tasks such as voice commands, translation, and transcription. A direct cloud link could also reduce the need to keep a phone involved in every request.
This could make earbuds feel more useful during daily activities. Camera-equipped models could go even further by using what the wearer sees to give AI more context.
The move shows how personal tech is spreading beyond phones. Earbuds already sit close to users for hours each day; adding AI could make them a natural place for quick voice-based tasks.
