Apple could buy Shazam for $400 million

Apple is reportedly looking to buy audio-recognition app Shazam.

The tech giant is thought to be signing an acquisition deal this week worth $400 million, according to TechCrunch and Recode.

The move would mark one of Apple’s most significant acquisitions since it bought Beats in 2014 for $3 billion.

If the purchase goes ahead, it would mean Apple no longer has to pay Shazam for referring users to iTunes, and could curb Shazam support for Apple Music rivals Spotify and Google Play.

It is thought that Apple may also be interested in Shazam for its augmented reality technology, which it unveiled earlier this year.

Apple has big plans for AR, following the launch of the ARKit platform for iOS app developers and the proliferation of AR apps currently found on the App Store.

The company is also rumoured to be working on an AR headset as its next major hardware innovation.

The Shazam app first launched in 2008, and let iPhone and Android users discover songs by holding their smartphones near a speaker.

Since then, the app has been updated with features that allow it to recognise clips of classical music, TV shows, films and adverts.

In 2015, it introduced visual recognition abilities, which helped pave the way for its AR platform.