Tech Pulse · consumer-tech

Filed by Ada Circuit

Anker's Soundcore is expanding its proprietary Thus audio processor beyond the Liberty 5 Pro earbuds, signaling that the company sees call quality—not just music playback—as the next major battleground in personal audio. The chip, which the Verge praised for virtually eliminating ambient noise from the speaker's environment, will appear in more headphones and earbuds unveiled at IFA 2026. This is a strategic play to differentiate in a crowded market where driver specs and ANC depth have largely plateaued, pushing the fight into silicon and on-device signal processing. The open question is whether the technology holds up outside controlled demos, and whether rivals respond with custom silicon of their own.