Samsung today said its Galaxy Buds Hearing Aid feature has been cleared by the U.S. FDA, which means hearing aid capabilities will be coming to the Galaxy Buds in the fourth quarter of 2026. Samsung will join Apple in offering over-the-counter hearing aid functionality. Apple added an FDA-cleared hearing health feature to the AirPods back in 2024, allowing them to be used as a clinical-grade hearing aid. Like the AirPods, the Galaxy Buds can replace a hearing aid for mild to moderate hearing loss, and Samsung is introducing a Hearing Test option like Apple did. Galaxy Buds users can do a self-administered hearing test in five minutes and the resulting clinical-grade audiogram can be used to adjust the built-in Hearing Aid feature. The Galaxy Buds will amplify the sounds users have difficulty hearing, like high frequencies or whispers, which is also how the AirPods work. Noise elimination and beamforming also help Galaxy Buds users by focusing on the sounds in front of the user and suppressing background noise. Samsung says it worked with the National Acoustic Laboratories and Samsung Medical Center to develop the hearing aid feature set. Hearing Aid features will be available on the Galaxy Buds3 Pro and the Galaxy Buds4 Pro. A newer Samsung Galaxy smartphone that supports One UI 8 or later is required. After introducing hearing aid features in the U.S. in iOS 18.1, Apple has expanded availability to over 150 countries and regions. Apple had a two-year head start, but Samsung is now starting to catch up with a Galaxy Buds hearing health option that matches most of what the AirPods can do. Tag: Samsung This article, " Samsung is Starting to Catch Up to Apple on Hearing Health " first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums
Sonos is working on an upgraded version of its Ace headphones that will support AI, reports Bloomberg . The Sonos Ace Ultra showed up in an FCC filing earlier this week, with the product likely set to debut in September. Sonos debuted the original Sonos Ace in 2024. Reviews praised the sound quality and active noise cancellation, but the headphone market is crowded, and Sonos' product launched shortly after its disastrous app redesign . The headphones also didn't fully integrate with the rest of the Sonos ecosystem, making them unappealing to Sonos users. Sonos ended up selling around 200,000 units, well below the internal one-million target it set. Bloomberg suggests the new model will kick off Sonos' push into artificial intelligence. The headphones could support voice commands based on info in the filing, allowing them to be used with AI chatbots from third-party companies. Sonos CEO Tom Conrad said last month that AI will be an area of focus, with "conversational computing and predictive intelligence moving into the home." The headphones will come in Greige, Shadow Black, Agave, Blush, and Sand, according to the FCC filing , but little else is known about them because most of the filing was redacted. The original Sonos Ace were priced at $449 at launch and were competitive with the AirPods Max. The headphones had an over-ear design similar to the AirPods Max, and the same general feature set. Apple does not have a new version of the AirPods Max coming anytime soon, so the second-generation Sonos Ace headphones will still be pitted against the original AirPods Max design. Related Roundup: AirPods Max 2 Tag: Sonos Buyer's Guide: AirPods Max (Buy Now) Related Forum: AirPods This article, " Sonos Preparing AirPods Max Rival With Voice Assistant Support " first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums
A new rumor suggests that "everyone" at Apple calls the upcoming foldable iPhone the "iPhone Ultra," though that doesn't mean Apple will actually go with that name. iPhone Fold could be called iPhone Ultra Apple keeps things like marketing names under a tight lock and key. It is rare, if ever, that the public learns about what something might be called before it is released. However, you have to call the device something , and it seems a colloquial name has caught on internally at Apple. A social media post from Mark Gurman suggests that "everyone calls it the Ultra internally." Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
