As one of the hottest consumer electronics products at the moment, TWS true wireless Bluetooth headsets are replacing wired headphones as standard for smartphones. According to a report by Counterpoint, an authoritative research organization, the global TWS headset market sales reached 233 million units last year, an increase of 78% year-on-year. Sales are expected to reach 310 million units in 2021, up 33% year-on-year.
The top five brands currently in terms of market share are Apple (31%), Xiaomi (9%), Samsung (7%), JBL (4%) and QCY (3%). Traditional acoustic equipment manufacturers such as Sony and Bose, as well as Internet giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, have also laid out their layouts in an attempt to grab a piece of the pie.
Where there are winners, there will be losers. In May 2021, Sennheiser announced the sale of its consumer audio business to Swiss hearing aid giant Sonova for 200 million euros (about 1.56 billion yuan). The business transfer is expected to be completed by the end of the year, including approximately 600 employees. In the future, the company will focus on the Pro Audio (professional audio), business communications and Neumann (studio-grade audio solutions) business areas.
For music/headphone enthusiasts, Sennheiser is a thunderbolt. It is the world's traditional audio giant, the first of the four traditional HiFi brands, and has a history of 76 years since its birth.
In the mid-1940s, post-war Germany was in ruins. Fritz Sennheiser went from being a university teacher to an entrepreneur who founded the Winnebostel Laboratory (Labor W) in a farmhouse near Hanover. The initial main business was not to consume audio equipment, but to produce vacuum tube voltmeters and measuring equipment for Siemens to meet the needs of the infrastructure construction and communications industries.
That summer, Fritz received an order to assemble microphones and embarked on the path of audio product development. Two years later, it launched its first microphone product, the MD 2. It is worth mentioning that he later won the 87th Academy Award for Technology with the MKH 816 shotgun microphone. The condenser microphone technology developed has been widely used in film studios and television studios.
In the 1960s, Sennheiser introduced the world's first open headphones, the HD 414, which sold more than 10 million units worldwide. In the early 90s, Orpheus (Orpheus, commonly known as "Da'ao") HE90 entered the market. This limited edition model is considered to be the best headphones in the world, in addition to the powerful sound quality, up to more than 300,000 yuan ($55,000) of the price, there are still a picture of an audiophile listening to The Great Ao silently crying.
Since then, Sennheiser has successively launched a series of popular and popular classic products such as HD600, HD650, IE80 and so on. In addition, it has also made great achievements in the fields of professional microphones, radio, infrared sound transmission technology, and aviation call headsets. According to the data, in 2012, its global headphone market share reached 14.1%, ranking first.
However, times are quietly changing. Five years ago, Apple released the first generation of AirPods, netizens have complained: "ugly", "easy to lose", "why spend nearly 10 times the price, to buy a cable-cut headphones." As a result, it can't stand the real fragrance, and with a good user experience and practicality, it has quickly become an essential accessory for many stars and hipsters. Wu Yifan, Neymar, Beckham and other well-known figures have been photographed using this headset.
It wasn't until late 2018 that Sennheiser unveiled his first TWS headset at ifA in Germany, a full two years behind the AirPods. At this time, the high-end market has been firmly occupied by Apple, coupled with opponents such as Samsung and Sony and new players, the traditional audio giant is gradually unable to do so.
In 2019, Sennheiser's consumer-grade business revenue was 393.4 million euros, an increase of 4.1% year-on-year, but after deducting taxes and interest, it was actually in a state of loss and once laid off 650 employees worldwide. Last year, revenue from the business fell to 250 million euros (about 1.95 billion yuan).
Just as the iPhone beat Nokia, airPods beat Sennheiser's consumer headphone business in a way. It is also a good choice to find a good home for yourself when you can still sell at a high price.