Samsung, why are you so afraid of aptX Lossless?

Samsung just wrapped its July Unpacked event, and once again, Galaxy Buds owners got nothing new to unlock better sound. To be fair, that’s because the buds weren’t the focus this round — but it’s also because Samsung hasn’t budged on the bigger issue: its phones and earbuds still don’t support aptX Lossless, aptX HD, or aptX Adaptive, the Qualcomm codecs that have become the standard for high-quality wireless audio on the rest of Android. Instead, Samsung keeps pointing to its own Samsung Seamless Codec (SSC), specifically the “UHQ” version that promises 24-bit, 96kHz sound — but only if you’re using a Galaxy phone with a pair of Galaxy Buds.

Everyone else, including anyone who pairs their new Galaxy S26 with premium Sennheiser or Sony headphones, is stuck with basic aptX, even though the Snapdragon chip inside that phone already technically supports the good stuff.

When I asked Samsung about this directly back in February at their event for the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, the company told me it prioritizes SSC because it delivers a more stable connection between Samsung devices and, in their view, comparable audio quality to alternatives. The actual numbers say otherwise. SSC UHQ tops out at 24-bit, 96kHz audio, with Samsung claiming a bitrate of up to 2,304 kbps. Here’s how that stacks up against every version of aptX still in use:

• aptX (Classic): 16-bit, up to 48kHz, roughly 352kbps
• aptX HD: 24-bit, up to 48kHz, up to 576kbps
• aptX Adaptive: 16- or 24-bit, up to 48kHz, scaling up to around 420kbps depending on conditions
• aptX Lossless: 16-bit, 44.1kHz, around 1,000kbps, verified bit-for-bit CD quality

On paper, SSC UHQ’s bitrate beats all of them, including aptX Lossless. But a bigger number isn’t the same thing as a better result. aptX Lossless is built to reproduce CD-quality audio bit-for-bit, meaning the file you started with and the sound coming out of your headphones are mathematically identical. SSC UHQ has never been independently verified to do the same — it’s still a compressed, proprietary codec that Samsung alone controls and grades its own homework on. “24-bit” and a high bitrate make for a good spec sheet line, but neither one means lossless, and Samsung knows the difference.

The part that’s harder for me to defend is that none of this comes down to hardware. The Snapdragon 8 Elite chip in Samsung’s own flagships already has aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, and aptX Lossless support built in — Samsung is the one stripping those libraries out of One UI. That’s not a limitation, it’s a choice, and it’s one that keeps Galaxy owners locked into buying Galaxy Buds if they want anything beyond entry-level Bluetooth sound. Samsung did tell me it would consider supporting aptX more broadly if there’s enough demand, which sounds reasonable but is also a rather safe answer: it costs Samsung nothing to say, and it conveniently keeps the ball in everyone else’s court instead of theirs.

I think the demand is clearly out there. Samsung’s own community forums have Galaxy S25 owners venting about pairing new headphones and getting downgraded to a decade-old codec, despite both the headphones and the phone’s chip being capable of better. If Samsung really is waiting to hear from customers before it flips a switch it already has the hardware for, take this as another sign. Samsung doesn’t need to build anything new here. It just needs to stop holding back what’s already sitting in the silicon.