Apple has confirmed that its Apple Music Lossless and Spatial Audio features will be coming to India. The features debuted elsewhere for users in May at no added cost.
Apple’s Support Twitter page notes that “We appreciate your interest. Dolby Atmos on Apple Music will be coming to India soon. Keep an eye out here.” Meanwhile, the Apple Music page for India also makes mention of the feature. No official launch date has yet been announced.
When Apple Music Lossless debuted in May, Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats, said that:
“Apple Music is making its biggest advancement ever in sound quality. Listening to a song in Dolby Atmos is like magic. The music comes from all around you and sounds incredible. Now we are bringing this truly innovative and immersive experience to our listeners with music from their favorite artists like J Balvin, Gustavo Dudamel, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Kacey Musgraves, The Weeknd, and so many more. Subscribers will also be able to listen to their music in the highest audio quality with Lossless Audio. Apple Music as we know it is about to change forever.”
Right now, around 75 million Apple Music tracks are available in the lossless format. As Apple phrased it, this allows listeners to hear songs “the way the artists created them” in the studio. The Spatial Audio support for songs mixed in Dolby Atmos is currently available for “thousands” of songs.
We appreciate your interest. Dolby Atmos on Apple Music will be coming to India soon. Keep an eye out here: https://t.co/bY5ilVtW8w
— Apple Support (@AppleSupport) June 9, 2021
Apple’s growth in India
With its comparable population to China (which Apple CEO Tim Cook has called Apple’s future biggest market), India is a market Apple is very enthusiastic about. However, right now it’s still a bit-player. Nonetheless, Apple has been taking steps to grow its brand in India. It is currently preparing to open its first Apple Store in India. In 2020, it also opened its Apple Online Store in India. In addition, Apple has leaned more and more on India as a country to carry out its manufacturing.
Speeding ahead with an Apple Music Lossless launch in India is just one more piece of evidence when it comes to how seriously Apple takes the market. It’s also one heck of a good deal: Apple Music’s monthly cost in the United is $9.99. In India, a regular monthly subscription is 99 rupees. That works out at just $1.35. While there’s a chance Apple charges more for lossless, the would be the first time would ramp up the price for one market. When Apple started offering free 4K upgrades to iTunes movie downloads in 2017 it didn’t ramp up the prices in India. There’s no reason this would be different.
Via: 9to5Mac
