It has been 4 years since the first shipment of TWS earphones surpassed that of wired earphones in 2020. In 2023, TWS earphones have developed into a huge market with annual shipments of 380 million units.
Looking back at the "upper" process of TWS earphones, at first, it appeared only to "cut" the connection line between the earbuds and the device, so that the earbuds can achieve untethered and comfortable wear.
Yang Yun, CEO of Shokz Shokz China (Photo source: official shooting of Shokz)
Around 2018, with the progress of the semiconductor industry, noise reduction algorithms and other technologies, TWS earphones have achieved further transcendence of wired earphones by virtue of their advantages in active noise cancellation and intelligent interaction. In terms of product form, the overall structure of traditional headphones "in-ear and semi-in-ear" has not been departed.
The competition of open-back headphones intensifies, and Shokin "speeds up"
It was not until the past two years that the emergence of open-back headphones such as bone conduction and air conduction has released greater application potential of "wireless headphones".
According to IDC's "China Wireless Headset Market Monthly Tracking Report", the sales volume of the open-ear headset market in 2023 will be 6.52 million units, a year-on-year increase of 130.2%, of which bone conduction, earhook, and ear clip headphones have grown significantly, which has also found a new growth point for the headphone market, which has shown weakness.
Yang Yun, CEO of Shokin China, said: "In the current market, whether it is an emerging independent brand, a traditional old brand, or even a mobile phone brand, they are all laying out the open earphone market. This phenomenon of a hundred flowers blooming is undoubtedly a positive force for the development of the category, which provides users with more choices. At the same time, it has also formed a kind of pressure on us, who are at the head of the market performance at this stage. ”
韶音新品OpenFit Air
Recently, Shokin also released two new products: OpenSwim Pro and OpenFit Air, and jointly released China's first group standard of "Ergonomic Technical Requirements and Evaluation Methods for Bone Conduction Headphones" with the China Institute of Standardization, and also announced that it had reached a cooperation with UTMB, a world-class trail running event.
Judging from the new products released, OpenSwim Pro is a new generation of swimming headphones in Shokin, combining MP3 mode and Bluetooth mode into one, the Bluetooth standard of the product is upgraded to the latest 5.4, IP68 protection level supports 2 meters of water depth swimming, and the built-in storage capacity is increased to 32GB, which can accommodate more than 8000 songs. In terms of wearing, the weight of the product is 27.3g, the clamping force is also moderate, and there are three built-in sound modes of standard/vocal and swimming, which can be switched according to the scene change.
Another new product, OpenFit Air, while continuing the in-ear design, is equipped with air earhooks, which can adapt to different ear shapes, and in terms of sound, it is equipped with Shokin's self-developed DirectPitch directional sound field technology, which can effectively reduce the sound leakage of open-back headphones by setting up multiple tuning holes and using the principle of sound wave inversion phase cancellation.
In terms of voice communication, on the basis of dual-microphone sound transmission, OpenFit Air adopts a new cVc8.0 algorithm to eliminate ambient noise and call echo and keep the voice clear and stable. The release of a series of new products and the cooperation with the competition can be seen as a response to the increasingly fierce market competition.
Yang Yun mentioned: "The sense of urgency of market competition is indeed one of the important factors that promote us to accelerate the iteration of new products, and at the same time, technical reserves and innovation are also the key support to maintain new product iteration and maintain market performance, especially when the market competition environment becomes more fierce or the industry environment becomes more complex, we need to respond quickly, take the initiative to change, and constantly improve the update speed of products to meet market demand and maintain competitive advantage." ”
Open-back earphones may replace TWS earphones
For the layout of Shokin in technology and industrial chain in recent years, Zhang Haofeng, product director of Shokin Technology, also supplemented specific data and decision-making levels. It is understood that up to now, Shokin has a team of nearly 300 R&D engineers, and has improved the yield rate of the supply chain and further improved its own supply chain level by establishing strategic cooperation with Luxshare.
"We focus on building internal systematization and forward design capabilities, similar to the IPD concept advocated by Huawei, and systematically build from R&D to supply chain, which not only improves the certainty of product development, but also enhances the stability of product launch. After several years of capability accumulation, our supply chain, R&D and marketing capabilities have all grown, so it is no accident that we were able to launch four products at a high density this year. Zhang Haofeng added.
Zhang Haofeng, product director of Shokin Technology
Nowadays, the same problem facing Shokin and open-back headphones is the same, that is, for an emerging category/category, how to continue to expand the audience user base.
In this regard, Yang Yun also shared his opinion: "At first, we focused on KOCs and seed users, and accurately reached those who love sports. Subsequently, we began to work with athletes such as Kipchoge and Froome who are highly recognized in their respective fields of expertise. Today, in order to expand the influence of the brand, Shokin chooses to take advantage of the current hot star economy, while constantly optimizing the product layout. ”
For the entire open-earphone category, Yang Yun believes that only from the sports scene, the outdoor sports participation rate of 28% of Chinese users is still a lot of room for improvement compared with developed countries in Europe and the United States, where the participation rate is generally more than 50%. This means that there is a huge potential for the sports industry.
"From a longer time perspective, I think the biggest potential of the open-ear earphone market lies in the replacement of traditional TWS earphones. As consumers continue to improve their pursuit of sound quality, wearing comfort, and ease of use, open-back headphones are expected to gradually occupy a larger market share. Yang Yun told Titanium Media App. (This article was first published on Titanium Media App, author | Deng Jianyun, editor - Zhong Yi)