Netflix Might Be Working On AirPods Spatial Audio Support

Samsung just announced the Galaxy Buds Pro that is the company's take on the AirPods Pro. It might, however, still have a lot of ground to cover to catch up, especially when it comes to support from content providers and streaming services. Apple's AirPods Pro and AirPods Max already have a few of those popular services supporting their Spatial Audio feature and now it seems that Netflix will finally be catching up soon.

Spatial Audio is the marketing term Apple uses to name these AirPods' special implementation of immersive sound, a feature that Samsung calls "360-degree audio" on the Galaxy Buds Pro. It uses a combination of gyro sensors and directional audio to track users' heads and the position of the iPhone or iPad. The effect is that sound feels like their coming from the right position even when you move your head around.

Of course, this doesn't happen magically for all kinds of audio content and has to be enabled by sources separately. Spatial Audio is currently supported by Apple's own Apple TV, of course, but also by Disney+ and Hulu. That short list conspicuously leaves out streaming king Netflix, but that may not be the case soon.

According to an anonymous insider, Netflix has actually been working on that feature since December. It might be ready to launch by Spring this year but the catalog will reportedly start out quite small. Netflix could time it with the announcement of new movies and shows that will take better advantage of Spatial Audio.

That said, Netflix subscribers shouldn't get too excited yet as the requirements might be a bit high. Of course, you need an AirPods Pro or AirPods Max but you might also need to be on the service's Ultra HD tier to use the feature, seeing as this is the same tier that offers Dolby Atmos surround sound.