2024 TWS true wireless headset industry prospects
2024 TWS true wireless headset industry prospects and investment strategy research The global TWS headset market steady growth AI headphones lead the new trend
The global TWS headphone market is growing steadily, and AI headphones are leading the new trend
Market research institute Canalys recently released a report shows that in the first quarter of 2024, the global TWS(true wireless) headset market shipments reached 65 million, an increase of 6%, which highlights the steady growth of the TWS headset market. At the same time, tech giant Meta Platforms is also exploring the development of AI headphones with cameras, indicating that the headset industry is about to usher in a new round of technological innovation.
In the TWS headset market, Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung, boAt and Huawei and other brands ranked in the top five, of which Apple's shipments fell 8% year-on-year, but still ranked first with 16 million shipments, and the market share reached 25%. Xiaomi, as the fastest growing brand among the top five vendors, grew 61% year-on-year, surpassing Samsung for the first time to rank second, and its strong growth momentum cannot be ignored.
At the same time, the concept of AI headphones has gradually entered the public eye. According to Thepaper.cn, Meta Platforms is exploring the development of AI headsets with cameras that can be used to recognize objects and translate foreign languages, bringing a new interactive experience to users. Although the specific design and timeline of the project have not been finalized, it undoubtedly brings a new direction for the headphone industry.
Industry analysts believe that the maturity and popularity of wireless headset technology provides a solid foundation for the research and development of AI headphones. Huaxin Securities said that with the increase of wireless headset sensors, the product experience will be more excellent, and compared with mobile phone consumption, the popularity of wireless headphones is still very large. In addition, AI headphones, as an important carrier for terminal applications, have an unprecedented strategic position.
Minsheng Securities further pointed out that the trend of large models to terminals has clearly emerged, headphones as one of the important carriers of this trend, its upgrade path forecast for Bluetooth accessories -WiFi networking - mobile signal networking, and eventually become an independent intelligent assistant that can be used anytime and anywhere. This judgment points the way for the future development of the headset industry.
Overall, the global TWS headset market is growing steadily, and the emergence of AI headphones has brought new development opportunities for the industry. With the continuous progress of technology and the increasing diversification of consumer demand, the future headset industry will show a more colorful development trend.
According to the "2023-2028 China TWS real wireless headset industry Prospect Forecast and Investment Strategy Research Report" released by the Research Institute of Puhua Industry:
TWS headphone industry development status
The TWS(true Wireless stereo) headphone industry is currently showing solid growth. The following is the development status of the TWS headset industry:
Market size: According to public research data, the global TWS headphone shipments in 2023 will be about 386 million units, an increase of 9%. It is expected that wireless Bluetooth headsets will continue to grow in the next few years. The report released by market research institute Canalys also shows that the global TWS headset market shipments reached 65 million in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 6% year-on-year.
Brand competition: At present, the main brands in the TWS headset market include Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung, boAt and Huawei. Apple holds the No. 1 position in the global market in terms of shipments, but its shipments fell 8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024. Xiaomi showed a strong growth momentum, up 61 percent year-on-year, surpassing Samsung for the first time in second place. Shipments of Samsung and boAt did not fluctuate much, accounting for 8% and 5% of the market, respectively. Huawei, by increasing investment in the strategic deployment of entry-level products and the launch of open headsets, achieved year-on-year growth in shipments and successfully entered the top five.
Technological innovation: With the continuous maturity of Bluetooth, chips, sensors and other technologies, TWS headphones will accelerate development and become one of the fastest growing smart wearable device fields. In addition, research and development of AI headsets is also underway, and they may have advanced functions such as object recognition and foreign language translation, providing users with a more intelligent user experience.
Market demand: After the popularity of more general TWS headphones, users' demand for headphones used in specific scenarios (such as sports, office, games, etc.) has increased, making the demand for "second headphones" to meet specific scenarios begin to rise. This provides a new growth point for the TWS headset industry.
Market outlook: The global TWS headphone market is expected to continue to grow in the next few years. With the daily demand for online office and online learning, the TWS headset industry is expected to accelerate. At the same time, China's TWS headphone market will also maintain rapid growth, and the market size is expected to reach $10.59 billion in 2024.
In general, the TWS headphone industry is currently in a phase of solid growth, with fierce brand competition, continuous technological innovation, and diversified market demands. In the future, with the continuous advancement of technology and the increasing diversification of consumer demand, the TWS headset industry will continue to grow.
In recent years, TWS headphones have contributed to the most important shipments and increments in various segments of wearable devices, and according to IDC statistics, audio wearables will account for 61.3% of the entire wearable device market in 2023. According to the data, the global TWS shipments in 2023 are about 295 million units, of which, in the fourth quarter of 2023, the TWS market showed a steady growth trend, shipments increased by 6.5% year-on-year, an increase of 5 million units from last year.
In the case of the weak global consumer electronics market, the growth momentum of the TWS headset industry, which was once placed high hopes, has slowed down significantly. The major TWS headset manufacturers are moving forward cautiously, and they are also looking forward to the market picking up again. About 210 million TWS headsets were shipped globally in the first three quarters of 2023, of which, in the third quarter of 2023, TWS accounted for 73% of overall personal smart audio device shipments due to the continued penetration of TWS in the mass market.
The global true wireless headset (TWS) market showed a 3.9% shipment growth. Despite the overall upward trend, shipments of the two giants, Apple and Samsung, declined. Despite an 8.3% decline in shipments, Apple remained the market leader with a 27% market share. Samsung followed with an 8 percent market share, with shipments also falling 9.5 percent. At the same time, the two major brands boAt and Xiaomi performed strongly, both achieving double-digit growth, ranking third and fourth with 7% and 5% market shares, respectively.
It is worth mentioning that although Skullcandy's shipments fell slightly, by 1%, it managed to displace OPPO to join the top five vendors, accounting for 3% of the market share. This quarter, the global true wireless headset market showed a diverse competitive landscape, emerging brands continue to rise, and the market is full of vitality.
Headphone industry future development trend
The future development trend of the headphone industry may cover multiple aspects, combined with the current technology and market dynamics, we can predict the following possible development trends:
Intelligent: With the continuous development of technologies such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, the headset will achieve more intelligent functions. For example, the integration of intelligent noise reduction, voice recognition, voice assistant and other functions will further enhance the user experience. In addition, research and development of AI headsets is also underway, and they may have advanced functions such as object recognition and foreign language translation.
Multi-functional: Future headphones will no longer be limited to audio playback and call functions, they will expand more application scenarios. For example, the integration of functions such as health monitoring (heart rate monitoring, step count, etc.), voice translation, and environment awareness (navigation, weather queries, etc.) will make the headset a more comprehensive life assistant.
Customization: In order to meet the needs of different consumers, the headset will provide more customization options. This includes personalized color matching, customized sound effects, customized wearing methods, etc., to meet consumers' pursuit of personalization and differentiation.
Environmental protection and energy saving: With the improvement of environmental awareness and the promotion of policies, the headset industry will pay more attention to environmental protection and energy saving. Manufacturers will use more environmentally friendly materials and processes to reduce energy consumption and emissions during production. At the same time, the recycling and reuse of products will also become an important direction of enterprise competition.
Wireless: Wireless headset technology has been quite mature, and there is still a lot of space for popularization. With the continuous upgrading of wireless technologies such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the connection stability and audio transmission quality of wireless headphones will be further improved. At the same time, with the popularization of 5G technology, the application scenario of wireless headphones will also be further expanded.
Sound quality improvement: Sound quality has always been one of the core competitiveness of headset products. In the future, headphone manufacturers will continue to upgrade the sound quality iteratively, and continue to improve the sound quality performance by using more advanced audio codec technology and better sounding units.
Comfort: As consumers have higher and higher requirements for wearing comfort, headset manufacturers will pay more attention to the comfort design of products. For example, the use of lighter materials, more ergonomic design, more intelligent wear detection and other features will further enhance the user's wearing experience.
The future development of the headset industry will show trends such as intelligence, multi-function, customization, environmental protection and energy saving, wireless, sound quality improvement and comfort improvement. These trends will promote the continuous innovation and development of the headset industry, and bring more high-quality products and services to consumers.
As a segment of wireless headsets, the emergence of open headsets, conference headsets and professional game headsets can meet the needs of specific user groups such as sports, office, and games, and the growth of personalized demand will drive the growth of wireless headsets in these segments.
In the fierce market competition, whether enterprises and investors can make timely and effective market decisions is the key to win. The report accurately grasp the unmet market demand and trend of the industry, effectively avoid industry investment risks, more efficiently consolidate or expand the corresponding strategic target market, and firmly grasp the initiative of industry competition.
