Mike Wuerthele
A new market analysis of the headphone market suggests that Apple's AirPods have driven the growth of the totally wireless headphone subcategory, accounting for nearly 85 percent of sales in the segment, as measured by dollars in the US.
Apple's AirPods have in part driven the headphone market by 22 percent when measured by dollar sales, according to a new study by market watchdog NPD. The study cites Bragi and Doppler Labs as being the first entrants into the totally wireless earbud market, but "the entrance of tech titans" have led to a spike in sales in the segment.
Since the start of the year, more than 900,000 totally wireless headphone units, by "mostly Apple" have been sold. Factors leading to the market segment dominance by Apple at present are "disruptive pricing, brand resonance, and excitement over the W1 chip."
To beat Apple in the market, new entrants, like Thursday's Bang and Olufsen and Sony offerings, will "have to provide some differentiation in features, sound quality, or associated services and applications" to challenge the AirPods in the market, according to NPD.
Apple's AirPods shipped to the public in December 2016. The $159 AirPods pair with an Apple iPhone 7 with the W1 wireless chip, and have a five-hour listening time with the included charging case boosting the total to over 24 hours of listening time
Wesley Hilliard
Christine McKee
Marko Zivkovic
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Andrew O'Hara
42 Comments
not surprising, they have not been able to keep them in stores long enough. my wife was going every day to an apple reseller here in Korea and they never had a pair, always sold out.
I tried one time coming home from work and luckily they had one.
picked up husband of the year until January.
Love them!
my airpods are used at work for business and while running. This plug is for anyone one the fence- they sound great and have never once fallen out of my ear while running 6 - 8 miles of single track and full of sweat. They may look the same as the corded, but I can assure you that they are 2 very different products.
Switch back and forth from computer to iPhone is about a 10 second process in beta high Sierra.
Can recharge about 5 times using the included battery pack - about 15 minutes to fully rechatge. Plenty of low battery warning.
This is surprisingly amazing. Every eyes on the upcoming iPhone, but one Apple product goes under the radar.
Had mine since Christmas and am still as thrilled with them now as I was then. Echo GrabAsnookie - great fit, great sound. Managed to run the earpieces down before my morning commute the other day, and was up and running again within 10 minutes following a case charge. Just superb.
Just remember the caterwauling and sarcastic comments posted in AI forums when these were announced. Remember that AirPods were laughed at, ridiculed. Remember the comments about how ugly there were, how easily they would fall out of people's ears, how stupid the entire concept was because Bluetooth audio 'sucks.' You know, the same reaction we get with every single Apple product release... ever.