Apple may have bigger plans for next week than previously thought, and there seems to be a surprise announcement regarding high-resolution streaming for Apple Music. A report from 9to5Google included references in the latest beta version of the service's app for Android directly pointing to high-resolution audio, which was not present before.
The Apple Music app offers only two quality options: one for higher quality and another for lower data usage. These options are provided as a simple alternative, generally allowing users to use less data when streaming while not connected to Wi-Fi. With the beta version 3.6.0 of Apple Music for Android, signs of high-quality audio streaming and download options coming to Apple Music for Android have emerged.
Apple prominently warns about the amount of data and storage used by high-quality audio, stating that lossless audio files preserve all the details of the original file, and playing them consumes significantly more data. It adds that lossless audio files use much more space on your device, noting that a 10 GB space can store about 3,000 high-quality songs, 1,000 lossless songs, or 200 high-resolution lossless songs.
Apple continues its warning by stating that lossless streaming consumes significantly more data, indicating that a 3-minute song roughly requires about 1.5 MB at high efficiency, 6 MB at high quality at 256 kbps, 36 MB lossless at 24-bit/48 kHz, or 145 MB at high-resolution lossless at 24-bit/192 kHz. Support varies and depends on song availability, network conditions, and the capabilities of the connected speaker or headphones.
The fact that Apple has now added this data to the Android app suggests that this may happen sooner rather than later, as the Apple One bundle appeared in Apple Music for Android just a few days before its public announcement. The Android app's code reveals that Apple Music offers two lossless playback options: the first is lossless ALAC up to 24-bit/48 kHz, and the second is high-resolution lossless ALAC up to 24-bit/192 kHz.
