Strategy Analytics Emerging Device Technologies (EDT) follows the Bluetooth Headset market very closely and has recently released two comprehensive reports on the subject for our clients:
The New "Golden Age" for Bluetooth Headsets Has Arrived
Mobile Accessories : Global Bluetooth Headset Sales and Revenue Forecast to 2024
The Global Bluetooth headset market grew by a huge 69% in 2017 driven by Apple AirPods and the continued trend of dropping the 3.5mm plug from smartphones. Growth continues strong and in 2018 the growth reached 64%. Sales will continue strong through to 2024. We estimate global volumes for Bluetooth headsets shall grow past the half a billion mark by 2024.
Global Bluetooth mono headset sales declined -13% in 2018. The market will further decline in 2019 by -10%. The mono market is expected to continue on a steep decline.
Global sales of stereo Bluetooth headphones grew at an above-average rate of 85% during 2018 and will grow by 58% in 2019. Stereo accounted for 89% of all Bluetooth headset volumes in 2018, up from just 1% in 2005. A wave of tier-1 brands, such as Bose, Sony, LG, Samsung, Jabra and Beats (Apple) continue to refine their product portfolios for handset / tablet users and grow shelf-share.
Most of the traditional wired headset vendors such as Monster, Skullcandy, Sennheiser and Bose have launched wireless versions of their headsets and the trend continues strong. Apple will continue to dominate the market; sales of Apple AirPods are strong and reached 28% market share in volumes and 44% market share in revenues among stereo Bluetooth headsets in 2018.
In-ear headsets have already risen as the biggest sub-segment of stereo Bluetooth headsets. Thanks to the AirPods the segment continued to grow 107% in 2018 and growth will remain strong throughout the forecast period. The in-ear Bluetooth headset segment took 56% of stereo headsets in 2018.
Apple is the undisputed leader in the Truly Wireless (TWS) segment. After releasing the AirPods in 2016 Apple has basically owned the whole segment. Samsung with IconX series comes second, followed by Jabra, Bose and Huawei forming current TOP5 vendors.
Apple (incl Beats), Bose, Samsung, LG, Sony, Plantronics, Jabra were the big 7 global headset brands in 2018, accounting for a combined 45% of total volumes. Apple became the undisputed leader in the industry with the excellent sales performance of its AirPods headset in 2017. AirPods alone took 19% market share during 2017 and 25% in 2018.
For more in-depth analysis and information our clients can read the reports from here:
The New "Golden Age" for Bluetooth Headsets Has Arrived
Mobile Accessories : Global Bluetooth Headset Sales and Revenue Forecast to 2024