Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro debuted earlier this month at the Made by Google event with an impressive mix of premium features. Now, the tech giant is bringing an audio quality upgrade to its latest flagship Pixel range. Google has confirmed that lossless USB audio will come to the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro in a future update, allowing music fans to experience their favorite songs without change and loss of quality. In addition to the Pixel 8 series, phones from other manufacturers running Android 14 will also get this functionality and app developers will have to adopt the new API (application programming interface) for lossless audio to take advantage of the feature.
In a Reddit Ask Me Anything session for Android 14, Google Vice President of Engineering Dave Burke confirmed that lossless USB audio is coming to the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. He notes that this feature “guarantees bit-perfect audio,” allowing audio to bypass the audio mixer and any processing effects, among other things. “It is expected that Pixel 8 and other OEMs will support this mode in their hardware abstraction layer (HAL) implementations in later releases. App developers will need to adopt the new Lossless Audio API to take advantage of this.” he said.
The lossless USB audio will be available on the Pixel 8 series and other Android phones in a future release. With this development, music lovers will soon be able to listen to their favorite songs in their purest form with all the subtle details, without any processing effects via compatible USB headsets. Music streaming apps like Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Tidal already offer lossless audio.
It is also expected that Google will support display output via the USB Type-C port and could enable this feature via an update in the future. This allows the handset to control a connected monitor. The company is yet to confirm the development, although noted tipster MishaalRahman (@MishaalRahman) has reported that it works and even suggested a method for enabling DisplayPort Alt mode, or video output through the USB Type-C port on Pixel 8 series smartphones. Now an X user @mile_freak07 has done just that revealed that this method allowed him to get video output through the USB Type-C port while working on a Pixel 8 Pro. He also posted a Magisk module on the Xda developer forum that can quickly enable this on other rooted Pixel 8 handsets.
Both Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are currently on sale in India via Flipkart. The price of the vanilla model starts at Rs. 75,999 for the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage model, while the Pixel 8 Pro costs Rs. 1,06,999 for the 12GB RAM + 128GB storage model.