Federica Laricchia
Research expert covering the global consumer technology industry
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The hearables market can be categorized into three segments broadly: hearing aids, personal sound amplifiers (PSAPs), and headphones or earbuds. Within the hearables sector, true wireless stereo (TWS) headsets, a class of wireless headphones, have recorded impressive growth, becoming among the most popular hearables. Much of the growth experienced in the TWS sector was fueled by the popularity of Apple AirPods. The pairing between AirPods and the iPhone has seen Apple take a pole position in the global TWS market, ahead of competitors such as Xiaomi and Samsung. Other headphone brands include Beats and Bose, with their headphones used by 15 and 13 percent of Americans. Sony, JBL, and Philips headphones also prove to be popular across Europe.Headphones: a fluctuating market
In 2022, the revenue of the global headphones market reached roughly 17 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of around 14 percent compared to the previous year. The headphones market has benefitted from the rise in the number of people working and learning from home, with people looking to obtain a set of headphones to support them in meetings or for noise cancellation to aid concentration. However, due to supply chain disruption and the economic downturn, headphone sales decreased in 2022, amounting to around 1.1 billion units.
