Despite the plunge in AirPods shipments, Apple dominates the wireless audio market

In the third quarter of 2021, Apple's AirPods and Beats shipments fell by more than 30%, but the company still maintained its dominance in the market. According to a new report from Canalys, Apple's shipments of true wireless stereo devices — including AirPods, AirPods Pro and Beats By Dre models — in the third quarter of 2021 were estimated at 17.8 million. That's down 33.7 percent from apple's 26.8 million audio accessories shipped in the third quarter of 2020.

Despite the plunge in shipments, possibly due to users waiting for the third-generation AirPods, Apple remains the clear market leader — and the second-place contender isn't even close.

In the third quarter of 2021, Apple's share of the market was 24.6%, down from 37.6% in the same period last year. In second place is Samsung, which includes the company's HARMAN subsidiary. The South Korean company had a market share of 12 percent in the third quarter, up slightly from the previous 10.8 percent.

Behind Samsung are brands such as Xiaomi, boAt and Edifier, which have market shares of 6.8%, 3.8% and 3.8%. All other TWS brands accounted for the remaining 49%.

Overall, global TWS equipment shipments increased only slightly between the third quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of 2021. The overall market shipped 72.2 million units in the third quarter of 2021, an increase of approximately 1.3% over 71.3 million units.

Canalys expects the market as a whole to return to strong growth during the holiday season, plus apple's third-generation AirPods released in October, which has a new design and additional audio features.