Despite its name, the new Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 is designed not just for headphones, but for hybrid devices too – camera-enabled earbuds, audio glasses and future form factors. This chip doubles the on-board AI compute compared to the Gen 1 (it’s now rated at 0.128 TOPS), while also reducing power consumption by 40%. It also has a 30% smaller footprint on the motherboard.

“With Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2, we’re heralding intelligent audio wearables that enable experiences such as real-time translation, contextual assistance, personalized hearing, and multimodal interactions that combine audio, vision and AI,” said Ziad Asghar, Senior Vice President and General Manager of XR, Wearables and Personal AI, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. The camera support isn’t intended to turn headphones into an action camera; instead, the camera will provide context for your AI assistant.

The chip offers “micro-power” Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, allowing direct Internet connection for reduced latency and phone-free operation. It supports aptX Lossless, XPAN, 5th gen Qualcomm ANC, and more. The CPU is an ARM M55 at 300MHz paired with eNPU 6. Several companies including Bose, HP and Cleer are already building new devices with this chip.