What new about the phone audio input (APIs and hardware)

At WWDC 2025, Apple introduced several updates related to audio input capabilities, particularly for iOS 26. Here are the key highlights:

1. Input Device Selection: A new API in AVKit allows apps to display a list of available audio inputs and switch audio sources directly within the app, without needing to navigate to system settings. This feature includes a UI for input selection, live sound level metering, and microphone mode selection (Enhance your app’s audio recording capabilities).

2. AirPods High-Quality Recording: iOS 26 introduces a high-quality, high sample rate Bluetooth option for AirPods, designed specifically for content creators. This mode provides a balance between voice and background sounds, similar to a lavalier microphone. It is supported in both AVAudioSession and AVCaptureSession (Enhance your app’s audio recording capabilities).

3. Spatial Audio Capture: Apps can now record spatial audio using AV AssetWriter, with the ability to capture audio in a format based on spherical harmonics called Ambisonics. This allows for enhanced spatial audio playback features like head tracking on AirPods (Enhance your app’s audio recording capabilities).

These updates provide developers with more flexibility and control over audio input, enhancing the audio recording capabilities of their apps.