Spotify Still Intends to Launch Delayed HiFi Lossless Plan, Just Don't Ask When

Spotify says it still plans to launch a lossless music experience, although when that will be and what form it will take still appear undecided.

General Spotify Feature
It's been more than two years since Spotify announced it would introduce a "HiFi" premium tier that would give users access to a catalog of CD-quality music tracks. Originally it said the tier would go live by the end of 2021, but similar moves by rival streaming services upended Spotify's lossless strategy.

Since then, Apple Music has included lossless listening options as part of its standard subscription price, and Amazon has stopped charging extra for its lossless music library. That's made the idea of Spotify asking users to pay more for a like-for-like service sound a lot less reasonable.

"We announced it, but then the industry changed for a bunch of reasons," Spotify co-president Gustav Söderström said on Tuesday in an interview with The Verge. "We are going to do it, but we're going to do it in a way where it makes sense for us and for our listeners. The industry changed and we had to adapt."

"We want to do it in a way where it works for us from a cost perspective as well," Söderström continued. "I'm not allowed to comment on our label agreements, nor on what other players in the industry did, for obvious reasons," he added.

According to The Verge, Spotify HiFi has been ready to launch for more than a year, and Spotify employees have access to HiFi, but it was originally intended to cost more than the standard plan. Given Apple and Amazon's moves, Spotify's lossless is now expected to appear as part of a more extensive plan that includes access to spatial audio tracks and other perks to do with audiobooks and podcasts.

When the plan will arrive, however, is still unknown, with Söderström only able to confirm to The Verge that HiFi "is coming at some point."

Tag: Spotify

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
macbook pro blue green

When Will Apple Release the M5 MacBook Pro?

Wednesday March 26, 2025 4:53 pm PDT by
Apple regularly refreshes the MacBook Pro models, and a new version that uses M5 series chips is in the works. Apple just finished refreshing most of the Mac lineup with M4 chips, and now it's time for the M5. Rumors suggest that we could see the first M5 MacBook Pro models this fall. Design There have been no rumors of a design update for the M5 MacBook Pro models that are coming this...
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Expected Next Week - Here Are the Release Notes

Friday March 28, 2025 2:01 pm PDT by
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect. There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
Facebook Feature

Facebook's New iPhone App Feature Turns the Clock Back to 2007

Thursday March 27, 2025 1:59 pm PDT by
In the mid-to-late 2000s, Facebook was all about staying connected with friends and family. However, as the social media platform added new features and grew over time, that core experience began to get drowned out. That changes starting now, according to Meta, which today introduced a new feature that will "bring back the joy" of classic Facebook. Specifically, Meta has redesigned the...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Six Things to Know About Apple's Upcoming Foldable iPhone

Friday March 28, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things. Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
iOS 18 4 Ambient Music Control Center

How to Use iOS 18.4's New Ambient Music Feature in Control Center

Thursday March 27, 2025 7:45 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 18.4 update for the iPhone adds an Ambient Music feature to Control Center. Below, we take a closer look at how it works. iOS 18.4 is currently in beta, so the Ambient Music feature is not widely available yet. The update will likely be released to the general public next week. To use the feature on iOS 18.4, open Control Center and tap on the plus sign in the top-left...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

'iPhone Fold' to Feature Metallic Glass Hinge That Resists Deformation

Thursday March 27, 2025 4:21 am PDT by
Last week, we covered a report claiming that Apple's book-style foldable iPhone (or "iPhone Fold," as we are provisionally calling it here) will use liquid metal hinges to improve durability and help minimize screen creasing. Today, a Chinese leaker provided more details on the properties of this hinge material that help to clarify why Apple chose it for its first foldable device. According...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...

Top Rated Comments

AirunJae Avatar
27 months ago
"We were going to charge more for HiFi but then Apple and Amazon started including Lossless for free." That's the answer for why there's no HiFi yet.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dwalls90 Avatar
27 months ago
Spotify has been obnoxious with their cries of Apple's anti-competitive behavior while also not taking advantage of Apple's API's for native HomePod support. However, in my opinion, their algorithms to generate playlists and discover music is still the best in the industry. I also don't think the majority of users care about lossless quality... 320kbps is solid.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
McWetty Avatar
27 months ago
If the development team behind the Apple Watch app is working on Lossless, I’d estimate sometime around July… 2032.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ericwn Avatar
27 months ago
The lack of the feature surely doesn’t seem to impact their business much.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
steve09090 Avatar
27 months ago

Spotify has been obnoxious with their cries of Apple's anti-competitive behavior while also not taking advantage of Apple's API's for native HomePod support. However, in my opinion, their algorithms to generate playlists and discover music is still the best in the industry. I also don't think the majority of users care about lossless quality... 320kbps is solid.
Spotify are certainly better at choosing playlists. But that’s where it stops.
And they are now introducing AI voice introductions to their premium subscriptions. Do people really want to hear an Ai generated dj instead of the music? Stupid stupid stupid.

Maybe they need to prioritise where they are spending everyone’s money.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
one more Avatar
27 months ago
Not that HiFi matters much for people using AirPods, EarPods, Beats or any other Bluetooth gear for that matter. It also introduces a much greater lag when streaming, so the only real benefit of HiFi is for people with dedicated HiFi equipment who want the maximum immersion into their sound.

Other than that, app aesthetics aside (as this is very individual), I still find Spotify better than Apple Music for its main task, which is playing & discovering music. I regularly retry Apple Music, but still cannot find a reason to switch.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)