Spotify’s HiFi Plan May Finally Launch Later This Year

The new HiFi plan that Spotify first announced back in 2021 may finally arrive later this year. Bloomberg is reporting today that the new plan codenamed “Supremium” internally is expected to launch later in non-US markets.

Back in March of this year, Spotify co-president Gustav Söderström said in an interview that a lot has changed since Spotify first announced its HiFi plan two years ago. “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,” the exec said at the time.

Spotify may have a hard time offering better audio quality at a premium when competitors Apple Music and Amazon Music already offer that to subscribers at no additional cost. Apple currently offers its full music catalog in lossless audio, with a growing number of songs available in spatial audio with Dolby Atmos. Amazon Music also offers thousands of songs in Dolby Atmos or 360 Reality Audio quality.

According to Bloomberg, Spotify is also planning to improve its existing Premium plan by expanding access to audiobooks, which are currently only available for purchase on the web. The report says that Spotify could either let Spotify Premium members listen to audiobooks for a specific number of hours per month or make a selection of audiobooks available for free. Again, Spotify is expected to launch this feature in other markets first before bringing it to the US in October.

While Spotify declined to comment on Bloomberg’s report, the company announced today that it was rolling out a refreshed desktop experience with redesigned ‘Your Library’ and ‘Now Playing’ views. The company says its desktop experience is now more aligned with how Spotify works on mobile devices.