Surprise! Samsung has blessed the Galaxy S25 with the missing audio feature I’ve wanted for years

[What Hi-Fi?]

Good news, the Galaxy S25 will support aptX HD and Adaptive.

Surprise! Samsung has blessed the Galaxy S25 with the missing audio feature I’ve wanted for years : Read more

 

[NorthernDan]

Uunfortunately, someone at samsung is giving you some bad info which is probably why you can't find it anywhere else. I have a S25 Ultra with all the latest updates and like every other Samsung they have not enabled anything beyond basic aptx as you can see in developer options. My Aptx Adaptive headphones do not play in Aptx Adaptive.

You have Samsung's latest SSC which can do up to 24/32 bits and 96 kHz sample with their ear buds but other than that it's LDAC or nada. No LHDC or LC3 either.

So unless they're planning on enabling it which they've never done on a galaxy to date, (the hardware can do it) they don't appear to be. I would hazard a guess they don't want to undermine their SSC codec which is also adaptive/pay licensing fees when they have their own adaptive codec.

 

[Don_audio]

I was very surprised when I read this article. Samsung has not included hi-res 3rd party codecs for a reason, to lock people into their own ecosystem. Samsung recently has gone extra hard to try increase profits so they wouldn't do anything that could affect their bottom line.

 

[KocurTom]

"Samsung representatives have confirmed to What Hi-Fi? the S25's supported codecs include not only SSC, aptX and LDAC but also aptX HD and Adaptive, plus the niche LHDC."

Samsung S25 is here and there's no support of HD/Adaptive. Did your source lie to you? Is there any expected update that will make it available?

I'm a bit disappointed since I finally got the phone with Snapdragon instead of their Exynos chipset but those codecs are missing. Probably I will have to look for other brands and leave samsung for it.

 

[ishan]

Author of this article should provide some response on this. WhatHiFi is pretty reputable site to be sharing such information (and an important one for audio enthusiasts) without any proper research.

 

[refactoring]

I'm a little shocked myself, as I was going to buy the OnePlus 13 but when I saw this article I bought the Samsung s25 instead I think I will need to return it as it doesn't have the aptx hd codec.

 

[ishan]

I had already read Aaron's review, which came before this one from whathifi. He clearly said that it's all same as S24. But, still for a moment I was also excited.

 

[Choobooba]

Because of you i sold my s24ultra to buy the s25ultra!!
What a disappointment !!

 

[mcnaugha]

All developers using Qualcomm chips are required to pay additional license fees to use aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless and XPAN. They continue to not be willing to add that additional cost to their products and instead invest in their own proprietary codecs. It's unfortunate.

I've always wished Qualcomm could move to a model where customers can pay the license fees to activate the codecs. It's probably a big revenue stream they are missing out on.

To be fair, it's also possible these codecs drive up energy consumption and thus heat generation. This would adversely affect the marketed battery life and might more extensive product safety testing. It could also prove taxing to explain to consumers why their battery life doesn't match the marketed figure because of their use of these codecs. Some consumers could deny using them and it could be an invasion of privacy to monitor their use without anonymity. Perhaps as the chips get more energy efficient, they will be able to enable such codecs without these concerns.

You can now add [16-bit/44.1kHz] aptX Lossless to any USB Audio capable device via dongles like the FiiO BT11 and the Creative BT-W6. You may need a USB-C to USB-C adapter (about 1.5cm) to get these clear of your phone case.