Apple AirPods Account For 85% Of The Total Truly Wireless Earphones Sales In The US
The new trend of truly wireless earbuds has been dominated by Apple’s infamous AirPods in the US. According to NPD Group, the Apple AirPods, which launched last year along with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus account for 85% of the total wireless earbuds sale in the American market.
Apple AirPods launched with Apple’s W1 chip which let the users seamlessly interact with their iPhones using the earbuds. People already a part of the Apple ecosystem saw the convenience of having the AirPods and decided to look past the appearance of the earbuds which was heavily panned during the time of its launch. “With a use case centering on frictionless access to Siri and other tasks initiated by voice, AirPods really act as an extension of the iPhone,” Ben Arnold, Industry Analyst wrote in the research note for NPD Group.
Apple’s decision to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus last year was met with widespread scepticism as majority of smartphone users still use wired headphones and headphone makers had not yet entered the realm of lightning post or USB C headphones. The AirPods was Apple’s solution to that and an indication that Apple is well and truly on its way to make a port-less iPhone. The ease of connecting the AirPods to your Apple devices proved decisive in its record sales in the past year, even though there are better sounding headphones at a cheaper price available in the market.
Following Apple’s footsteps, a lot of big companies like Samsung and recently, Sony released their versions of the truly wireless earbuds and prolific headphone makers like B&O have also entered the premium earbuds market. A report by Gartner revealed that the sales of truly wireless earbuds will hit the 150 million sales mark in 2017. This suggests that people have definitely formed a liking for these earphones and are confident of not misplacing them within a week!
