AirPods: Market in the USA slowly saturating?
US retailers had reduced Apple's popular earbuds for Prime Days, in some cases significantly. What does this mean for the most important market?
AirPods and iPhone.
(Image: Aleksey H/Shutterstock.com)
Apple's AirPods are now a billion-dollar business: Apple could reportedly exceed 100 billion US dollars in sales of earbuds and over-ears by 2026. However, the business could face a growth problem, at least in the largest market, the United States: According to a study by market researcher CIRP, AirPods will soon reach saturation levels. Around 26 percent of all iPhone users in this market are already said to own AirPods. Of these, 44 percent own Bluetooth headphones, 59 percent of which are Apple products. According to market researchers, it is unclear whether this rate can be increased in the face of competition. The longer product cycles for AirPods are a potential brake. Unlike the iPhone, they are not released every year.
Much success, but not successful enough
One interesting data point is the discounts that Apple resellers offered their customers during the most recent Prime Days. Amazon sold the AirPods Pro 2 for 100 dollars less, and other major US retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy followed suit. The earbuds were also cheaper in Germany: at 190 euros, Amazon offered the lowest price at the time, 90 euros less than Apple. "The AirPods are a success, but they need to be even more successful," says CIRP.
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However, it could also be that Apple and its retailers simply wanted to "sell a lot of AirPods" – and had enough margin to push significant quantities onto the market. Of course, Apple itself did not reduce the price; the company almost never does this, with the exception of problem markets such as China, most recently with the iPhone. Apple users know that resellers usually have lower prices than Apple itself.
Waiting for new models
The saturation of the market could be remedied by Apple launching new models more regularly. The current situation: The AirPods Pro 2 were launched in 2022 and then received a minor update with USB-C and a slightly improved H2 chip in 2023.
The regular AirPods (4th generation) are still comparatively new (from fall 2024). With the AirPods Max, only USB-C (including USB audio) was added last year, but nothing was changed in terms of drivers and chips. However, Apple has another audio brand up its sleeve in the form of Beats, which is positioned as more affordable and "hipper".
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