Once, when we wanted to buy headphones, the first thing that came to mind was the Iron Triangle, AKG, BOSE and other brands that focused on audio products, which have been deeply rooted in the audio field for many years and have a very strong technical accumulation in this field. But I don't know where to start, when we want to buy a headset, the first thing that comes to mind is Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung and other mobile phone brands. Moreover, there is now a very interesting phenomenon, when you search for the keyword "headphones" on an e-commerce platform like JD.com, the top few sales must also be the headphone products produced by those mobile phone brands, and even say that in the top ten list of headphone sales, you can't see a professional audio manufacturer's products. Perhaps when you see that Apple AirPods 2 has nearly 400W+ reviews, you will involuntarily say a sentence: Adults, the times have changed!
JD.com's top four headphones sold
From the current market trend, the real wireless headphones launched by mobile phone brands have become the mainstream products in the market and have become the main force in the audio market, and professional manufacturers such as Senhai, BOSE, and AKG have been forced to retreat to the second line, or even three, four, five, and six lines. Even the living space of professional Bluetooth headset manufacturers such as Jiebra is getting smaller and smaller.
And it's all about starting in 2016. In September of that year, Apple unveiled its first generation of AirPods true wireless headphones, although at that time its market response could be described as mixed. But there are still many people who are surprised by the technology used in this headset at that time, of course, among these many consumers, some people are not optimistic about the completely wireless design of this headset. But these negative reviews did not affect the very great success of the AirPods series of headphones. And the emergence of AirPods has also changed the direction of the entire headphone market to a certain extent. Since 2016, in the past five years, xiaomi, Samsung, OV and other mobile phone manufacturers have begun to enter the market, opening up a new battlefield.
According to Counterpoint's latest research on the true wireless headphone market, although the sales of the true wireless headphone market in the whole year of 2021 are not as good as previously forecasted due to a well-known factor, the global true wireless headphone equipment market shipments in 2021 increased by 24% year-on-year, and the market value increased by 25%. Apple, Xiaomi, and Samsung are the top three brands in the market share of true wireless headphones, with market shares of 25.6%, 9%, and 7.2%, respectively. Among them, Apple's share fell by 4.6% compared with 2020, Xiaomi was flat with 2020, and Samsung increased by 0.5%.
Source: Counterpoint
Source: Counterpoint
In fact, in 2017, the market share of wired headphones was still higher than that of true wireless headphones, and after 2017, the market share of true wireless headphones began to rise year after year. According to the data of market research agencies, in the five years from 2016 to 2021, the proportion of the true wireless headset market has increased year after year, and shipments have soared by 25 times. Led by Apple and followed by other mobile phone manufacturers, a new market of 100 billion yuan has been formed in a short period of time, and the feat of replacing wired headphones with true wireless headphones has almost been achieved.
When we mention the product of headphones before, we may first think of Sennheiser's HD600, AKG's K3003 or Bayer Power's Sherantu, which are very classic models in the era of wired headphones. But now that we mention headphones, the first product that may come to mind is Apple's AirPods Pro, Samsung's Galaxy Buds Pro or Xiaomi's true wireless noise-canceling headphones 3 Pro. In short, times have changed. Established headphone manufacturers are fading, and mobile phone brand true wireless headphones are fiercely competing.
Will the headset market be dominated by mobile phone brands for the next period of time? Are the old traditional audio manufacturers really out of the way?
When you carefully read the previous content, I think you have learned that the current headphone market or the audio market, mobile phone manufacturers are the real "mountain king", then mobile phone manufacturers can always be king? Judging from the market data, the growth rate of true wireless headphones has begun to slow down. Data from relevant market research agencies show that from 16 to 19 years, the market shipments of true wireless headphones have risen sharply year after year, and the growth rate has always maintained an amazing triple digit, and the growth rate of true wireless headphone shipments in three years is 118%, 130% and 179% respectively. However, from 2020, although the market shipments of true wireless headphones are still growing, the growth rate has fallen to 85%, and in 2021, the global true wireless headphones market shipments reached a new high, reaching 299.6 million units, but the growth rate fell to 24%.
And in March this year, there were media reports that Apple plans to reduce the order volume of its popular product AirPods in the second and third quarters of this year, planning to reduce production by 10 million units throughout the year. And Apple's well-known analyst Guo Mingji broke the news that the order volume of AirPods in the second and third quarters of 2022 has been reduced by more than 30%. In addition, as mentioned earlier, Apple's share of the true wireless headset market in 2021 has dropped by 4.6% compared to 2020. Could it be that these market signs are indicating that the true wireless headphone market is about to change?
Perhaps when you read the above data, you will feel that the real wireless headset market lacks some "vitality", and even shows signs of decline. In fact, this is not the case, in 2021, the global chip market has a new crisis, chip production capacity declined, which indirectly led to a decline in shipments of true wireless headphones. And in recent years, some global well-known reasons will also directly lead to a certain degree of decline in consumer purchasing power. The bigger reason for the decline in Apple's market share is because Apple has only launched a new true wireless product from 2020 to 2021, and it is An AirPods 3 that does not support active noise reduction, because there is no new product to stimulate market consumption, so it is inevitable that the market share will decline, after all, the current true wireless headphone market will support active noise reduction products will be more "popular".
Some analysts believe that the number of Apple AirPods orders in the second and third quarters of 2022 decreased by 30%, which is a signal of "sounding the alarm bell", which means that the market situation in the short term is not optimistic. But in my opinion, there is a big possibility that the order reduction is due to the possibility of releasing the second-generation AirPods Pro in the second half of this year. The current production cut is likely to make way for the second generation of AirPods Pro, and after the release of the new product, prepare for the discontinuation of AirPods Pro.
For those traditional audio manufacturers, it is not easy to return to the throne of the king of sales in the headphone market. Now consumers pay more attention to the ecological experience, endurance and noise reduction, and the traditional audio manufacturers are best at the sound quality part is no longer the point that consumers value, for the current true wireless headphones are more able to ring on the line, consumers' demand for sound quality is slowly decreasing. For traditional audio manufacturers, if they want to have another impact on the headphone market, they may only rely on innovation, or need to launch true wireless products with very high cost performance and top sound quality.
As far as the current market pattern is concerned, traditional audio manufacturers need to transform their rich acoustic technology strength into a selling point that can participate in market competition, and only by doing so can they continue to participate in the competition of the true wireless headphone market. For today's headphones, sound quality is not the selling point pursued by manufacturers, and now it is more like the battle between loT ecology and innovation, which is what mobile phone malls that like to embrace new things are best at. Therefore, at this stage, mobile phone manufacturers are still the king of the headphone market, and traditional audio manufacturers will continue to roam the edge of the market.
(7915498)