Looks like Apple is finally stepping up the game when it comes to music streaming by taking things a notch higher. And by higher, we mean in terms of quality. Alright, enough skirting around. Apple Music might soon offer a lossless tier of music streaming. And no, this is not just a rumor. In fact, breadcrumbs of a high-quality, lossless listening experience in Apple Music have been found in the code of a recent iOS beta update. 

The folks over at 9toMac have unearthed the mention of ‘Lossless’, ‘Dolby Atmos’, and ‘Dolby Audio’ in the code of Apple Music app following the release of iOS 14.6 beta update a few days ago. Now, it is unclear if Dolby Vision and Dolby Audio are related to Apple hardware that support these standards or if it specifically has something to do with the music streaming service. But the mention of ‘lossless’ in the music streaming app’s code is a strong sign that Apple is cooking up a high-fidelity music listening experience for Apple Music users. 

Apple reportedly won't charge you extra for enjoying lossless music

Adding more fuel to the fire, HitsDailyDouble reports that a lossless Apple Music tier won’t cost you extra cash, which means subscribers will have to pay their standard $9.99/month fee to enjoy high-quality music. Now, this would be very uncharacteristic of Apple, especially taking into account recent developments such as Apple’s debut in the world of podcast subscriptions. 

The report also adds that Apple will announce this lossless tier of Apple Music alongside the AirPods 3. “The announcement is expected to coincide with the launch of the third-generation AirPods. Whether these will be compatible with the new, improved audio offering is unknown,” says the report. However, it is unclear whether the upcoming AirPod will have the necessary hardware to support high-fidelity music playback. 

However, it won’t be surprising to see Apple adding lossless music streaming to its portfolio of services. Archrival Spotify has already announced its own hi-fi music streaming tier, while Amazon Music already has one – the uninspiringly named Amazon Music HD. Tidal and Deezer are the biggest names in the domain, but Apple can leverage its vast catalog and throw some cash in the direction of music labels to create a service that is high on audio quality as well as music diversity.