Only 2 noise-cancelling headphones have been certified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology A? Maybe it was a misunderstanding

Written by /Finance World Weekly Ma Ce

Editor/You Yong

On January 13, a topic of "only 2 noise-canceling headphones have been certified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology A" rushed to the hot search, triggering a big discussion about the reliability of noise-canceling headphones.

According to the Weibo topic content, according to CCTV reports, nearly 50% of the noise reduction of noise reduction headphones is insufficient, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's detection and evaluation of headphones, only The Wanderer NeoBuds Pro and Xiaodu Active Noise Reduction Smart Headphones Pro have obtained A-level certification.

After the information spread, some netizens found that the search for noise-canceling headphones on the official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not find any effective results. As a result, it has also caused many netizens to question the authenticity of this topic.

Only 2 products are A-certified?

At present, almost all mobile phone manufacturers have launched noise-canceling wireless headphones, such as Apple's AirPods Pro, Huawei's FreeBuds Pro and OPPO's Enco Free, etc., which are known as TWS (true wireless stereo) Bluetooth headphones, with noise reduction functions, and the price is more expensive than ordinary headphones.

According to Apple's official introduction, the noise-canceling headphones mainly use the design of dual noise-canceling microphones, which is also the scheme used by most of the high-end noise-canceling headphones in the industry, a microphone is external and a microphone is built-in, which can detect the noise outside the headphones and detect the effect of noise reduction through the built-in microphone to achieve secondary noise reduction.

However, the claim that only two noise-cancelling headphones have obtained the A-level certification of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is very eye-catching, and these two noise-canceling headphones are not mainstream brands currently on the market. Therefore, it has been questioned by people from mobile phone manufacturers.

An insider of a mobile phone manufacturer told the "Finance world" weekly that in response to the problem that "only 2 noise-canceling headphones have been certified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology A" on weibo hot search, they specially called the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and were told that they could not query the relevant certification information.

According to the A-level assessment certificate circulating on the network, the issuing authority is the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center. The center is a subordinate unit of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. By consulting the center's website, you can find a document related to the A-level evaluation certificate for noise-cancelling headphones published on December 24, 2021.

The article mentioned that on December 18, 2021, the China Intelligent Voice Industry Development Summit Forum released the "Intelligent Noise Reduction Headset and Call Noise Reduction Headset Multi-scene Performance Evaluation Research Report". According to the report, combined with the noise scenes in real life, after evaluation, four noise-canceling headphones have excellent comprehensive performance and obtained noise reduction A-level evaluation certificates. The four certified headphones are the Wanderer TWS NB2, the Wanderer NeoBuds Pro, the OPPO Enco Free2i, and the OnePlus Buds Pro. But there is no figure of the above-mentioned small active noise reduction smart headphone Pro.

According to the certificate, the above-mentioned mobile phone manufacturers judged that the review belonged to the active submission of individual headphone brands, "There is no multi-sample comparison test of noise-canceling headphones sponsored by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the credibility is insufficient." “

A person from another mobile phone manufacturer also told Caijing Weekly, "We understand that at present, no government department has taken the initiative to organize a large-scale TWS noise reduction headphone evaluation. ”

According to the original text of the above evaluation report, it can be found that the study focuses on domestic brands and market share, technical strength, etc., in the selection of samples, only a few representative products are selected, and the sample volume of domestic and foreign brands added together is a total of 12 products. Many well-known brand products, including Apple and Huawei, are not in the sample pool. At present, there are more than 300 noise-canceling headphone manufacturers in the country, and there are countless products. With a small sample size, it is practically impossible to conclude that "only 2 models have achieved A-level certification".

The "Finance world" weekly found that CCTV did report in July 2021 that nearly half of the active noise cancellation headphones were insufficient in noise reduction. The report is more to remind consumers that noise-canceling headphones have insufficient noise reduction and there is a risk of hearing loss. The State Administration for Market Regulation has tested 60 pairs of headphones from 47 companies, using relevant standards for the EUROPEAN Union and the military.

But most of these headphones are wired noise-cancelling headphones. A headphone manufacturer told the "Finance World" weekly that the relevant institutions for the TWS active noise reduction headphone standards also recommend keeping pace with the times, need to consider the difference between TWS active noise reduction headphones and traditional wired active noise canceling headphones in the scene. The implication is that the problem of nearly 50% of the noise reduction of noise reduction headphones reported by CCTV is the traditional detection standard with a higher level, and the current TWS headphone industry is not perfect and unified enough for active noise reduction standards.

Apple's monopoly is collapsing

TWS is the fastest growing consumer electronics product in recent years. Because there is no trouble with the cable entanglement and difficult to manage, it brings a better experience than traditional wired headphones.

Since Apple launched AirPods in 2016, it has led the wireless headphone market. Apple's TWS headset market share will reach 31% in 2020. A year ago, Apple's share was a staggering 54.4 percent. Although Apple's market share is on a downward trend, it still dominates this market.

Apple's success has also allowed more and more players to join in. A person in the business line of mobile phone manufacturers' headphones told Caijing Tianxia Weekly that with the rapid maturity of the TWS headset market in recent years, the products are dazzling and the competition is becoming increasingly fierce. "A large number of brands are pouring in to seize Apple's market share."

Apple and The Android camp have worked together to drive TWS headphones from the embryonic period to the mature stage. According to Counterpoint statistics, global TWS headphone shipments in 2016 were only 9.18 million pairs. In 2020, this figure grew to 233 million pairs. It is expected that the global TWS headset market will ship more than 310 million in 2021.

Prices also moved down quickly. Data show that from the first quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2021, the proportion of TWS headphones priced below $100 in the world has reached more than 50% from less than 20%.

In 2016, Apple released the first generation of AirPods, with a domestic starting price of 1288 yuan. About a year and a half later, Huawei entered the game and directly hit the price to less than 800 yuan. Since then, domestic Android brands have stirred up trouble, and the minimum price of ordinary TWS headphones has dropped rapidly to less than 200 yuan.

In 2019, TWS headphones with noise reduction functions have developed rapidly. Through the main control chip with noise reduction module, headphones that actively reduce environmental noise are gradually loved by urban consumers. Apple's launch of the AirPods Pro once again led the market. Huawei bites the rhythm of Apple, and the price of similar products launched in the same year is still only about half of Apple's. Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo and other domestic Android manufacturers still play the role of price killers. From 2020 onwards, TWS noise-canceling headphones have rapidly advanced the era of less than 500 yuan.

The rapid reduction in price has attracted more consumers. And Apple, the top in the market, has also ushered in its growth crisis. Some institutions have reported that Apple, which has long occupied more than 30% of the global TWS market share in Q2 2021, has experienced negative growth for the first time. Apple's TWS shipments also fell to 15.5 million units, or more than 25 percent, from 20.8 million units in the same period of 2020. Although it still has a large lead from the second place, the leading pattern maintained by it is facing a violent impact.

Mobile phone manufacturers have stronger ecological advantages and have mastered the right to speak in the adaptability of headphones and mobile phones. According to the data of IDC statistics, the top three TWS headphones in the domestic market in 2020 are all mobile phone brands, namely Apple, Huawei and Xiaomi.

"It's only a matter of time before Apple's market share in TWS is surpassed." The above-mentioned headphone business source told the "Finance World" weekly that the number of domestic Android mobile phone users is generally more, and the product has more price advantages. In the process of TWS headphones covering more consumer groups downwards, the market share of TWS headphones on the Android side has the basis for improvement. "Although Apple shipments and shares are declining, the TWS market as a whole is still on the rise." In other words, the domestic Android TWS headset market still has greater development potential. He believes that the price war of TWS headphones will continue to intensify in the next few years.

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