Apple's AirPods grabbed 26% of wireless headphone sales after launch, report claims
Apple's AirPods have made a sizable impact on the wireless headphone market, according to research from Slice Intelligence, with the audio accessory reportedly capturing more than a quarter of the market.
For the United States alone, the report estimates wireless headphones including AirPods made up 75 percent of online revenue in the entire headphone market in December, up from approximately 50 percent for the same month last year.
Slice suggests that there was a drastic change in terms of market share last month, triggered by the launch of the AirPods. Before the launch on December 13, Beats occupied 24.1 percent of online revenue for wireless headphone sales, according to the report, with Bose following behind with 10.5 percent, then Plantronics and Jaybird with 7.8 percent and 7.45 percent respectively.
For the period after the launch, Apple suddenly became the dominant wireless headphones brand, moving from having no share at all to occupying 26 percent of the market. Revenue derived from Beats wireless headphones dropped down to a 15.4 percent market share during the same time, and though Jaybird and Plantronics dropped down to below 3 percent each, Bose managed to improve its standing to 16.1 percent.
The report also claims the launch day of EarPods turned December 13 into the largest single day for online headphone sales for all of 2016. Spending on headphones on that day was ten times greater than the pre-holiday average for the year, eclipsing sales on other major shopping events, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Amazon's Prime Day.
It is worth noting that the figures come from e-receipts generated by Slice's panel of online shoppers, rather than being compiled from official figures issued by manufacturers or retailers. The data only covers a portion of the United States, with one graph compiled from receipts from over 245,000 online shoppers in the United States, so it serves more as a guideline for sales trends.
This limited data set also suggests that buyers of EarPods tend to be male, making up 85 percent of shoppers polled. When broken down into age groups, it is also suggested that AirPod buyers tend to be younger for males, but female buyers skew towards the "boomer" age group than "millennials" or "Gen X."
For the United States alone, the report estimates wireless headphones including AirPods made up 75 percent of online revenue in the entire headphone market in December, up from approximately 50 percent for the same month last year.
Slice suggests that there was a drastic change in terms of market share last month, triggered by the launch of the AirPods. Before the launch on December 13, Beats occupied 24.1 percent of online revenue for wireless headphone sales, according to the report, with Bose following behind with 10.5 percent, then Plantronics and Jaybird with 7.8 percent and 7.45 percent respectively.
For the period after the launch, Apple suddenly became the dominant wireless headphones brand, moving from having no share at all to occupying 26 percent of the market. Revenue derived from Beats wireless headphones dropped down to a 15.4 percent market share during the same time, and though Jaybird and Plantronics dropped down to below 3 percent each, Bose managed to improve its standing to 16.1 percent.
The report also claims the launch day of EarPods turned December 13 into the largest single day for online headphone sales for all of 2016. Spending on headphones on that day was ten times greater than the pre-holiday average for the year, eclipsing sales on other major shopping events, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Amazon's Prime Day.
It is worth noting that the figures come from e-receipts generated by Slice's panel of online shoppers, rather than being compiled from official figures issued by manufacturers or retailers. The data only covers a portion of the United States, with one graph compiled from receipts from over 245,000 online shoppers in the United States, so it serves more as a guideline for sales trends.
This limited data set also suggests that buyers of EarPods tend to be male, making up 85 percent of shoppers polled. When broken down into age groups, it is also suggested that AirPod buyers tend to be younger for males, but female buyers skew towards the "boomer" age group than "millennials" or "Gen X."
Comments
What happened to the other 74%???
Fire Cook immediately!
Steve is graving in his roll!!
/s
Since all of the numbers in the report are percentages, sales of non-AirPods tapering off because the purchase was already made and sales of AirPods artificially concentrated in a very short timeframe due to the delayed release...makes for a pretty misleading use of statistics.
Between the Beats brand (which Slice recognized as Apple owned if you read the whole report) and AirPods, Apple will dominate the market. But I really wouldn't get too excited about the "0-26% market share jump" as being anything but a one-time perfect storm of sales trends.
You cant make up android stupidity.
Prepare to be surprised next year then. The AirPods are way better than any pre-launch review said... and word of mouth is growing fast. These are going to continue to sell consistently well.
Unless Apple is planning on withholding sales of AirPods from Oct to mid-Dec again next year, I do not expect to see a similar huge jump in sales the last half of December. The sales will be more spread out and as a result the moment-in-time percentages, which is really all this report is good for, will be lower (but still high and covering a larger time frame).
How about we wait and see what the steady state is before deciding by just how much Apple is going to dominate the market.
They are ugly - Yes, they are.
They will get lost - Yes, they are very small. So it will happen.
Sound quality is horrible - I haven't tried them yet, but most review agree that sound quality is similar, maybe a little better than earbuds. So I suppose they sound bad.
They will fall out of your ear - I suppose for many people, since they have no option for different sizes.
They are too expensive - Yes, they are.
Did i mention they ugly? - Yes, already did.
So maybe media ir right. Still, their opinions have no relation on how well or bad they sell.
They arent ugly.
I haven't lost mine. (and do diamond earrings suck because they can be lost?)
Sound quality is not horrible, it's pretty good.
They don't fall out of my ears.
They aren't too expensive (more than free?)
They aren't ugly.
See how opinions work? Only diff is, i've actually used a pair. With such a post i have to wonder if you even have an iphone.
Apple is definitely off to a good start with these but initial numbers like these can be misleading, especially with a product that is totally new and has new features like the AirPods. There's a lot of hype and buzz and a lot of the initial sales can be related to this. A better gauge will be sales over the coming year after things have settled down a bit. It will be interesting to see what happens going forward. I suspect a lot will also depend on how big the market is for completely wireless headphones selling at $170. My guess is that there will be more and more competition, and if Apple keeps the W1 technology proprietary then their market will be limited to iPhone users as I doubt most android users would be willing to pay a price premium for technology they can't take advantage of.
Consider yourself lucky. I missed the ordering window and decided to wait until they were back in stock. Then impatience ruled and I decided to try the retail stores. There are four near me and none of them had stock. Some of them said they got a few in daily. Trying twice to catch that bus and missing it, I've given up and am waiting for an In-Stock notification. I'm envious of those who scored a pair.