Apple Losing Share of Wireless Earbuds Market Despite Growing AirPods Sales

[beanbaguk]

I wouldn't call myself an pure audiophile but I love my music and have always invested heavily in ear/headphones.

I own a pair of custom Shure e535's, (now sold) B&W P5S2's, and a pair of B&W PX's which I've had a number of years now. I've sworn by them and the PX's are truly outstanding. I never thought wireless headphones could be so good until I bought these, and while I do use the noise-cancelling feature, I tend to keep that for the office or while travelling. At home I switch it off and your head explodes.

However, the biggest flaw in all the above is the connectivity aspect. Constantly connecting and disconnecting bluetooth, and having it randomly disconnect is annoying. It's not perfect. Not even close.

So back to last Christmas, my wife bought me a pair of AirPods as a rather nice stocking filler. I didn't think much of them and laughed at how stupid they look (I still think that), but holy cr*p, I was shocking by how damned convenient they are.

Just put them in your ear and that's it. Instant connection. No issues. They just work! And I can use one, or two, or switch sides, or just flick to my iPad, my Apple TV, my iPhone, my MacBook without any fuss. It's there and it just works.

And the sound isn't half bd. It's not a patch on my Shure's or PX's, but it's close to my over ear P5S2's.

I love the fact I can lie on my side in bed and wear one in my ear without any pressure on it. I love the fact they charge so quickly and I can wear them out and about without much attention.

I've tried a couple of other brands and no doubt they sound better and probably cost less, but for pure ease of use and functionality, you simply cannot beat the AirPod range. I'm a convert. (I say this while listening to MUSE on my PX's! )

 

[ryanwarsaw]

I lost my Airppod Pros the other day. Before that happened I wondered if I would replace them when the batteries came time. Now my decision is made. I can't justify the price for something I so easily lose or degrades so quickly. Then again I am not a huge music fan. Thought about regular AirPods as a cheaper compromise but don't think I could go back to them. So my brave new wireless world has come to an end. I won't do WaaS (wearables as a subscription).

Make the ear pieces cheaply replaceable and I may try again.

 

[UrbanJoe1]

You are not looking any further than Apple then, there is no way you can say there is no competition to Air Pods.

The only way that comment made any sense was from a purely personal point of view. Clearly, if there wasn’t competition Apples market share wouldn’t be shrinking. What Apple does well though is continue to seriously overcharge for many of its products because it perceives itself as intrinsically superior. At some point being drunk on their own Koolaid will be a severe handicap and other market shares will erode. As long as the money keeps rolling in you won’t be able to convince them otherwise. Tim is just gaming the company for his own personal financial benefit while innovation stagnates behind a thick cloud of corporate smoke and mirrors. Apple today is driven by greed and that doesn’t bode well long term at all.

 

[LeeW]

Apple today is driven by greed and that doesn’t bode well long term at all.

Show me a competitor of Apple that is not greedy. The difference is that Apple managed what no other could but wanted. An eco-system where users were either by choice or need, buy more devices in their range than any other company.

Don't go believing that Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Dell or any other would not be doing the exact same thing as Apple is right now. Amazon is as bad with their surge pricing policies amongst other things, but with virtually no competition they get away with far more. I could go on but you get the point.

The fact is that everyone has choices, nobody is forced into using Apple, most understand they are paying more but choose to buy anyway.

 

[AussieStu]

Because they are disposable tech. After a year of use my left airpod is dead after 30mins use.

Funny enough my left one done the same. $260 here for a new set that doesnt do anything new. So i ended up buying a $120 Beats wireless set from Apple and have the same hardware that was in my Apple ones. So works exactly the same and sound good. I was happy with the Apple Airpods but they dont last long enough and not worth the price tag they are charging now compared to others in the market.

 

[incoherent_1]

For people who are having battery problems, why not take them to Apple and have the batteries replaced? Is that not an option?

 

[UrbanJoe1]

Show me a competitor of Apple that is not greedy. The difference is that Apple managed what no other could but wanted. An eco-system where users were either by choice or need, buy more devices in their range than any other company.

Don't go believing that Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Dell or any other would not be doing the exact same thing as Apple is right now. Amazon is as bad with their surge pricing policies amongst other things, but with virtually no competition they get away with far more. I could go on but you get the point.

The fact is that everyone has choices, nobody is forced into using Apple, most understand they are paying more but choose to buy anyway.

I wasn’t implicitly commenting on other companies by the what I said about Apple. The cultural shift in capitalism is toward supporting companies that excel at core business but also operate by shared ethics and principles.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Apple has been playing catch-up in this market for a long time. I don’t see that changing given the price point of their ear products.