With smartphones becoming the primary source of music for many consumers, handset OEMs have been steadily improving the audio quality of their devices. However audio has been something of a ‘Cinderella’ technology – left in the dark and underappreciated – while cameras and displays have taken centre stage.

New developments in high definition audio will enable startling new capabilities in smartphones and other connected devices in the IoT, healthcare and automotive spaces, among others. Vendors need to understand the audio technology landscape and drive awareness about the benefits the technology has to offer consumers.

Counterpoint has a new Client Exclusive report that investigates how the latest advances in smartphone audio technology are being used to provide hi-fi quality audio and video playback in smartphones as well as enabling a raft of new voice-analysis-based applications such as speech recognition, biometric authentication, context awareness and even medical diagnosis. We also provide a brief overview of the latest audio-centric smartphones and identify the key players in the audio-tech value chain.

Advanced audio technology will be a key enabler in a wide range of devices from the smartphone, to the connected home, to the connected car and a slew of wearable devices.

Counterpoint clients can read the full report here.