Google removed the dual front-firing speakers for last year's Pixel 4 phones, and the company's newest Pixel 5 flagship has bezels so thin that they won't be returning anytime soon. While on-device audio enthusiasts may be bummed, Google has introduced a feature that promises to enhance the speaker quality of newer Pixel devices with typical Google-y ingenuity.

The feature, called Adaptive Sound, is similar to the setting of the same name on the Pixel Buds in that it uses the microphone to monitor surrounding environmental sound and make adjustments. However, instead of just upping the volume, Adaptive Sound on Pixels aims to improve the speaker sound quality by adapting the EQ of the audio to the surrounding environment.

The feature page notes that it won't be as effective at high volumes.

Adaptive Sound dropped for the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 in this month's feature drop, but an eagle-eyed Twitter user spotted the fact that it seems to have been billed on the Pixel 5's Amazon listing when it first launched, although the message advertising how the Pixel 5 speakers let you hear music "as the artist intended" has since been removed.

If you own one of Google's newest Pixel devices and are ready for an instant speaker quality upgrade, Adaptive Sound should be rolling out to you soon — along with plenty of other goodies from the new feature drop.

UPDATE: 2020/12/08 7:25am PST BY CALEB POTTS

Rolling out now

Updated to reflect that Adaptive Sound is officially rolling out to newer Pixel devices now.

Source: Google