New research has shown that the global market for TWS witnessed major growth in terms of shipment and value in 2021. There was a 24% YoY increment in YoY sales and 25% in terms of value in 2021 according to a research report by Counterpoint’s TWS Hearables Market Tracker. The growth had been predicted earlier, however; the unit sales growth remained slightly low because of the Covid-19 impacts. Let’s find out more.
Who Led the Market in 2021?
Despite the forecast, the unit sales had tremendous growth as it increased to around 300 million with the introduction of more feature-packed products in the market such as ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) and expanded playtime, at affordable prices. Moreover, OEMs also relied on their TWS portfolio to expand their smart ecosystem, resulting in increased competition and sales in the market.
Talking about the individual performances, the global leader in the TWS market Apple saw a slight increase of 5% YoY in its unit sales but its market share fell to 25.6%. Apple relied mostly on its AirPods 2 and AirPods Pro to maintain high sales based on promotions throughout the year as the AirPods 3 were released quite late. The sales of old TWS models from Apple has been on a significant growth as well with the growing influence of the company in the Chinese market. The AirPods 3 from Apple became the leading TWS product in the fourth quarter of 2021 by doing well in North America and Europe.
The South Korean tech giant Samsung Witnessed massive growth as well with a 33% YoY with its new models Galaxy Buds Pro and Galaxy Buds 2, released in the first half and second half of the year respectively. The emerging brands that did worldwide include the likes of Skullcandy and Boat which grew at a significant rate in major regions like North America, Europe and India.
The major growth in the market came in $50-$100 and $200+ segments. The $50 - $100 segment was led by Xiaomi and JBL in terms of growth whereas Apple drove the growth in the $200+ segment with a 75% share. Xiaomi recorded the highest sales in the sub-$50 segment which accounts for the largest share of the market. Moreover, while Skullcandy managed to get its product in the top 10 list of best-selling models, Boat recorded the highest growth compared to the previous year.
