News

Spotify Premium Users Can Stream Lossless Music At Last

The feature supports up to 24-bit FLAC quality and is rolling out in over 50 countries. However, Middle East users may have to wait until October.

Published

11 months ago

September 11, 2025

Nour Nasir

Spotify

Spotify has switched on lossless music streaming after years of delays, bringing premium users up to 24-bit/44.1kHz FLAC quality across most of its 100-million-track library. First teased in 2021 as a “HiFi” tier, the feature is now rolling out in more than 50 countries — but unfortunately, the Middle East isn’t on the initial list.

Lossless audio delivers uncompressed sound, retaining full quality for playback on capable headphones and speakers. Premium subscribers in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, Australia and Sweden are among the first to get access. Users will see a notification when the option lands on their account, and it must be enabled manually under Settings > Media Quality > Lossless for both streaming and downloads.

The company has confirmed that regular Bluetooth can’t carry lossless audio, so playback requires Spotify Connect over Wi-Fi with compatible gear from brands like Bose, Yamaha and Bluesound. This keeps fidelity intact without relying on Bluetooth compression.

Also Read: Best Music Streaming Services In The Middle East

Spotify is late to a race rivals started years ago — Apple Music added lossless in 2021, while Amazon bundled its HD tier at no extra cost in 2020. For Middle Eastern subscribers, the wait continues: Spotify says October will bring clarity on whether the feature rolls out in the region.

News

Samsung’s Fold Goes Wide, And The Whole Galaxy Range Gets Pricier

A new titanium build and a first-of-its-kind AI chip for wearables anchor the range, yet native Qi2 charging still isn’t part of the deal.

Published

3 days ago

July 23, 2026

Dana Saadeh

Samsung

Samsung has run its Galaxy foldable and smartwatch reveals in July for several years now, which is likely a deliberate way of jumping early on the autumn hardware calendar. The 2026 event stuck to the same timings, though prices climbed too, albeit unevenly: $100 on the Flip, a new $2,100 Ultra tier above last year’s flagship, and $30 to $50 on the watches.

At the top sits the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra at $2,100, a slab that measures just 4.1mm open and carries a 200MP main sensor, a 5,000mAh battery and an 8-inch interior display. Beneath it, the $1,900 Galaxy Z Fold 8 makes the more interesting bet. Samsung has stepped away from the tall, narrow shape it spent recent generations refining: the Fold 8 folds horizontally, so it’s wider than it is tall, with a 4:3 interior screen that sits about 9mm wider than the Ultra when closed. It drops the telephoto lens but gains battery, at 4,800mAh.

The clamshell Galaxy Z Flip 8 rounds out the phones at $1,200, up from the Flip 7’s $1,100, which was itself up from the $1,000 Flip 5.

All three devices run the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy and share a new Flex Titanium construction, a titanium alloy layer set beneath the flexible OLED that Samsung says strengthens display support, absorbs impact and reduces crease visibility. The progress has limits: none of the phones support Qi2 charging natively, 18 months after the Qi2-ready Galaxy S25. That means buyers will still need a magnetic case to get the most from a Qi2 charger.

The wearables move in the same upward direction. The Galaxy Watch 9 ($380 Bluetooth, $430 LTE) and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 ($700) both run Qualcomm’s 3nm Snapdragon Wear Elite, the first wearable chip with a dedicated Hexagon NPU capable of supporting AI models with two billion parameters. The Ultra 2 is 12 percent thinner than its predecessor despite an 800mAh battery and a display reaching 5,000 nits.

Also Read: Dubai Police Finishes 65 Projects, Says AI Is The Next Priority

Pre-orders open today. The devices are set to reach shelves on August 7.