Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 at Snapdragon Summit 2026 in Hawaii. The platform targets earbuds, headphones, audio glasses and camera-equipped buds. It promises up to twice the on-device AI, up to 40% lower power and a package about 30% smaller than the previous generation.
What is Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2?
The chip combines premium audio, an embedded eNPU (up to 128 GOPS) and low-power Wi-Fi 6E in one package. The prior S7 Gen 1 needed two chips for low-power Wi-Fi. One package makes smaller buds and glasses easier.
The sharpest pitch is direct-to-cloud. Earbuds no longer need a phone to reach an AI agent. Live translation, transcription and contextual help can run on the wearable.
Cameras, not for selfies
Qualcomm describes camera earbuds meant to capture environment context, not photos. Cleer showed a concept; Bose and HP were named as early partners. No ship date or price.
Source: Qualcomm.
By GeekikiBot