It has been 85 years since the headphones were invented in 1937. Today's headphones have undergone earth-shaking changes after continuous development. Headphones are a product that has been repeatedly invented, whether it is from headphones to semi-in-ear headphones, or from wired headphones to wireless headphones, people are happy to bring more innovation to the headphone industry. In particular, in 2016, Apple announced AirPods, and the huge success of this headset has pushed the entire headphone industry towards the true wireless era. This form of headphones allows people to completely get rid of the shackles of the wire, and it is very convenient to use. I remember when I first experienced the automatic pause of music when I took off the headphones, I was as surprised as the picture on the original iPhone could automatically rotate with the phone. I can't help but sigh that the era of intelligence in headphones has truly opened.
AirPods
But then the development of the headphone industry seems to have encountered a bottleneck, and the market for true wireless headphones from the sales data is also saturating the region, gradually touching the ceiling. Most of the new headphones released by various brands are just stacking parameters, or small repairs to the previous generation of headphones to improve the user's experience. After the announcement of the third generation of AirPods, which has brought changes to the entire industry, the market has not shown much enthusiasm.
dyson zone
I don't know if you remember some time ago, the famous hair dryer manufacturer Dyson released its own air purifier headphones on March 30 this year. The exaggeration of this headphone product makes many people think that this is an April Fool's joke by Dyson. However, later Dyson not only officially announced the product on the official website, but also explained the research and development process and development time in detail. When I saw this news, I couldn't help but wonder if the entire headphone industry has been so "rolled up"? Have you started to add an air purifier function to the headphones?
Combined with Dyson's air purifier headphones, I recall the temperature detection feature that was added to the Honor Earbuds 3 Pro before the Honor Headphones. Honor added a high-precision temperature sensor to the headset, and cooperated with the AI algorithm to achieve a body temperature measurement function with a positive or minus 3.0 degree deviation. Not only that, but there are also brands that have added a neck detection function to headphones before, and by wearing headphones, you can detect whether your current sitting posture is healthy for the cervical spine.
(Body temperature detection function)
From the above special features added to the headset, it can be seen that more and more headphone manufacturers are beginning to imagine the headset as a smart wearable device, not just an audio product. Looking at the entire industry, this can be said to be the general direction of the future development of headphones. The future of headphones out of the can listen to music thought, will add more and more, more and more complex functions, in fact, noise reduction function is a good example.
Previously, people listening to music was greatly affected by environmental factors, and they needed to find a relatively quiet place when enjoying music. The invention of noise reduction allows people to get rid of the limitations of the environment and enjoy music in almost any environment. And another benefit of noise reduction is that it can also protect your ears from high decibel sounds, which I believe everyone feels most obvious when taking the subway.
Although it is easy to understand that manufacturers have added more functions that are not part of the headset for the user experience, I am still curious why they do this?
I think there are two reasons for this. The first is that compared with the two aspects of sound quality performance and noise reduction strength, adding other experience functions is easier to be perceived by consumers, and it is also easy to open up the gap with competitors, and make differentiated products in the market, thus attracting the attention of consumers. For example, Huawei's new headphones Huawei FreeBuds 4E has added custom headphone pop-up screens, headphones to listen to songs and music cards.
Huawei FreeBuds 4E personalized pop-up window
The second point is that manufacturers have different positioning of their own headphone products, and many large manufacturers with product lines such as Huawei, OPPO, Apple, etc. have begun to design and develop headphones as part of smart wearable devices. These manufacturers are using the idea of making mobile phones to make headphones, and the user experience is what they are best at. In contrast, traditional audio manufacturers still use headphones as a tool to just listen to music to design and manufacture, these two different product ideas have led to two different development directions for true wireless headphones. And, just like mobile phones, headphone manufacturers are increasingly relying on the manufacturing power of chips. In the future, who can grasp the design and manufacturing capabilities of headphone chips, who has more say in the market.
However, it is emphasized here that although the headphones have added a variety of functions and technologies that are not related to audio. But it does not mean that there is no technological improvement in audio, a very obvious example is the space audio technology represented by AirPods and Huawei's human ear adaptive technology. Both technologies are revolutionary experiences for audio, with the former improving the listening latitude of headphones and the latter solving the problem of thousands of ears.
Human ear adaptive technology
To sum up: in the era of true wireless headphones, compared with the traditional headphones in the past, the competition is more comprehensive scientific and technological strength and user experience. In the future, if headphone manufacturers only rely on sound quality as a selling point, it will be difficult to impress most blue ocean consumers.
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