Dolby Virtuous Cycle in High Gear With Phone, Car Additions, Says Analyst

Dolby's virtuous cycle continues to drive broader adoption of Dolby Vision HDR and Atmos surround sound, leading to "more content supporting these formats which, in turn, drives more device adoption," Colliers analyst Steven Frankel wrote investors Monday. The company “notched an Android win” for Dolby Vision with Xiaomi's recently launched Mi 11 Pro smartphone, while Sony added Dolby Atmos to its new Xperia 1 phone and Samsung added Atmos to its Galaxy Book S laptop line, Frankel said. The Dolby ecosystem also expanded at the 2021 SXSW, with Lucid Motors’ Air sedan, which uses Atmos for safety notifications such as seat belt warnings, and for music playback through its 21-speaker sound system, he noted. The analyst cited a SlashGear report saying Apple Music will offer lossless and Dolby Atmos music tracks as part of its base plan, “paving the way for the introduction of additional Atmos powered smart speakers and headphones.” Vision and Atmos “continue to be part of almost every new piece of content in the streaming world,” and while HDR10+ made some progress with playback via Google's Chromecast and Roku's Express 4K+ streaming media players, its content library remains “thin, especially compared to Vision,” he said. Dolby.io, meanwhile, is a “a game-changer” that could expand the company’s addressable market and create recurring revenue, Frankel said, estimating Q2 revenue of $286.1 million when Dolby reports earnings Tuesday.