Apple Music is a music and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can choose to stream music to their devices on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes Internet radio stations Apple Music 1, Apple Music Hits, and Apple Music Country, which broadcast live to more than 200 countries/regions 24 hours a day. The service was announced on June 8, 2015, and launched on June 30, 2015. New subscribers get a six-month free trial period before the service requires a monthly subscription. Apple Music was originally strictly a music service, but in 2016 it began to expand into the video field. Executive Officer Jimmy Iovine said that the purpose of the service is to become a “cultural platform.” According to reports, Apple wants the service to become a “pop culture one-stop shop.” The company is actively investing in the production and purchase of video content, including music videos and concert footage that support music distribution, as well as web series and feature films.
Listeners of Apple Music for Android can now take advantage of Dolby Atmos spatial audio and lossless quality streaming features that debuted on iOS, iPad, and macOS more than a month ago. The latest Android app update adds support for these two features. Lossless should be generally available on Android devices. Apple includes the same warning about consuming “significantly more data” as iOS.
Similar to Apple’s own platform, Apple Music warns that if you want lossless to high resolution, you need external hardware like DAC. (I’m curious whether this still applies to LG’s audiophile-compatible phones, which have excellent built-in DACs, but haven’t had a chance to test them.) Apple Music’s spatial audio is sometimes surprising, but mostly inconsistent. However, the Android aspect seems to be more limited. Although this feature works with any headset, just like the iPhone, Apple points out that your phone must support Dolby Atmos to enable spatial audio.
On my Pixel 4A 5G, there is no “Dolby Atmos” option in the audio section of Apple Music settings. Other colleagues who have more flagship devices have an Atmos switch there. So I think this is the easiest way to judge whether your phone can play spatial audio. The beta version of Apple Music for Android actually shows that high-resolution, lossless audio is already available even before Apple’s official announcement. But now both can be used in the regular Apple Music app for Android. There are rumors that the ultra-wide-angle lens on the iPhone 13 “Pro” model has been improved, with a smaller aperture, which provides better low-light performance and improved autofocus, but rarely. It is expected that the wide-angle lens on the device will change. The iPhone 13 and 13 Pro are expected to adopt a new diagonal camera lens setting, which is different from the design of the iPhone 12 model.