Smart Personal Audio Shipments Declined 26% in 4Q22 [Report]

Global shipments of smart personal audio devices declined 26% to 112.1 million units in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to a new report from Canalys. The company estimates that TWS (True Wireless Stereo) unit shipments fell 23%, wireless earphones dropped 36%, and wireless headphones fell 25%.

Although, Apple shipments decreased by 30% year over year, the launch of AirPods Pro 2 helped Apple retain its strong lead over the competition.

TWS, the category that had previously supported the smart personal audio market's growth, saw shipments drop to 79.5 million in Q4 2022. Apple (including Beats) decreased by 30% year-on-year because shipments were strong in Q4 2021 after the third-generation AirPods had a delayed release. The second-generation AirPods Pro helped Apple retain its lead, contributing to 63% of all AirPods' TWS shipments. Samsung (including JBL and other Harman subsidiaries) and Xiaomi experienced double-digit decreases despite their subsidiary brands adopting a different market strategy. Samsung and Xiaomi leveraged their respective sub-brands, JBL and Redmi, to expand their addressable markets and improve accessibility at lower prices. Samsung and Xiaomi were then able to focus on core users within their smartphone ecosystems without impacting brand image. India's boAt slipped to fourth, while OPPO (including OnePlus), the only top five vendor to grow (11%), rose to fifth place, backed by its robust performance in China and strong OnePlus sub-brand in India.




Notably, AirPods Pro 2 also drove an increase in shipments within the $200-299 price band.

"The US$200-299 price band saw an increase of shipments driven by Apple's second-generation AirPods Pro. Apart from the weaker market performance of the third-gen AirPods, the downgrading of consumption happening on a global level contributed to the shrinking of the US$100-199 price band. Smartphone vendors, whose scales are often larger, felt the most significant impact as they saw their market shares shrink."

Canalys also predicts that the smart personal audio market will drop by 5% in 2023, while TWS will decline by 2% to reach 281 million units.


"2023 will not be an easy year for vendors to recover," said Canalys Research Analyst Sherry Jin. "Faced with a constrained market, competition intensifies. Mainstream vendors are forced to fight for market share and strengthen differentiations to stand out, as consumers tighten their belts on spending."

We are already seeing signs of intensified competition with Verizon discounting Apple's AirPods Pro 2 by $49.01 off today.

More details in the full report link below.

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